Palau 2013
Julian Sachs and a team of his students (Nemiah Ladd, Dan Nelson, and Tessa McGee) spent one month in Palau from September 10th to October 10th, 2013. The first two weeks were sunny; the next two brought constant downpours. Despite this (and some nasty run-ins with the perilous poison tree) the team was able to collect nearly 90 meters of core, numerous mangrove leaf and stem samples, suspended particle samples, and isotope water samples.
The main goal of this trip was to collect samples to calibrate and validate the relationship between salinity and isotope fractionation in mangrove lipids and algal lipids. The long term goal is to use these relationships to reconstruct past salinity and past rainfall variability in the tropical Pacific. These sites are a perfect representation of a "natural experiment." The marine lakes were formed when the high limestone islands (formed due to uplift and erosion of ancient reefs) flooded with sea water after the Last Glacial Maximum. Each has evolved independently and exhibits distinct ecology. The lakes also exhibit a range of salinities, providing a great sample set, a natural experiment, for a field calibration of the relationship between salinity and hydrogen isotope fractionation both in mangrove and algal lipids. The long term goals for the larger project are to investigate the 6000 to 15000 year old sedimentary record to describe the assembly of biodiversity through time and paleoclimate record using sub-fossils and lipid biomarkers,
The main goal of this trip was to collect samples to calibrate and validate the relationship between salinity and isotope fractionation in mangrove lipids and algal lipids. The long term goal is to use these relationships to reconstruct past salinity and past rainfall variability in the tropical Pacific. These sites are a perfect representation of a "natural experiment." The marine lakes were formed when the high limestone islands (formed due to uplift and erosion of ancient reefs) flooded with sea water after the Last Glacial Maximum. Each has evolved independently and exhibits distinct ecology. The lakes also exhibit a range of salinities, providing a great sample set, a natural experiment, for a field calibration of the relationship between salinity and hydrogen isotope fractionation both in mangrove and algal lipids. The long term goals for the larger project are to investigate the 6000 to 15000 year old sedimentary record to describe the assembly of biodiversity through time and paleoclimate record using sub-fossils and lipid biomarkers,
