Stable oxygen isotopes are often used for palaeoclimatic reconstructions. I was wondering if it is possible to use the oxygen isotopes from molluscan chitin to perform similar palaeoclimatic analysis based on fossil molluscan chitin?
I don't know about molluscan chitin, but it has recently been done on organic lining of benthic foraminifera.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0377839813000741
There is an publication available, where they investigate another part of molluscs: skeletal aragonite. Probably, the mentioned sample preparation helps in order to separate also chitin? Ricken, W., Steuber, T., Freitag, H., Hirschfeld, M., Niedenzu, B., 2003. Recent and historical discharge of a large European river system - oxygen isotopic composition of river water and skeletal aragonite of Unionidae in the Rhine. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 193, 73-86.
I assume you are aware of the older papers by Arndt Schimmelmann and others on isotopic analysis of chitin in arthropods - just in case:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0016-7037(86)90322-4
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0305-4403(86)90040-3
Hi, I know of these papers that focus on the stable isotope composition (C,N,O) of the organic matrix (chitin) of mussels:
Risk M, Sayer B, Tevesz M, Karr C (1996) Comparison of the
organic matrix of fossil and recent bivalve shells. Lethaia
29:197–202
and this link to a PhD thesis by Caroline LeBlanc:
"Terrestrial input to estuarine bivalves as measured by multiple stable isotopes tracers"
http://digitalcommons.mcmaster.ca/opendissertations/1874/
I hope this helps
As part of the latest international proficiency testing round (FIRMS-203 jointly organised by FIRMS and LGC Standards chitin was to be ananlysed for 2H, 13C, 15N and 18O. Those labs who returned d18O values used TC/EA-IRMS to analyse samples (an instrumental analytical technique already mentioned previously by Alexander Frank). All participating labs achieved z-scores of better than ±2.
Even though early papers on stable isotopic composition of chitin (e.g. by Arndt Schimmelmann as mentioned by Kai-Uwe Hinrichs) used a different approach to measure 18O abundance levels, these articles still provide a wealth of useful information on matters such as inter- and intra-species differences and variability. That being said, Arndt has recently published some more papers on this subject:
DOI: 10.1007/978-90-481-9684-5_4 (a book chapter published in 2011)
DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2006.01.021 (though this paper focuses more on 2H in chitin)
Here are a few more papers on 18O in chitin from various sources:
DOI: 10.1007/s10933-012-9623-4 (water beetles)
DOI: 10.1007/s10933-009-9374-z (chironomid head capsules)
DOI: 10.1016/j.gca.2009.12.025 (brine shrimp)
DOI: 10.1007/s00442-009-1303-3 (chironomidae again)
Thanks for all these usefull papers.
I reckon however that the question of René was not about the feasability of measuring O isotope on chitines, but where to do it (i.e. which labs are equiped for it, and would be willing to analyse sample). Has anyone a good tip for us on that matter?
My lab's set-up inlcudes 5 continuous-flow IRMS systems, one of which is dedicated to 18O (and 2H) analysis of solids and liquids. Contact me off-line at to discuss potential arrangments for analysis.
Thank you all for the useful info and papers you provided! That will help a lot!
I think you should contact laurent millet at University of Besançon. He try to do this on chironomidae. And look at: http://igitur-archive.library.uu.nl/dissertations/2010-0209-200152/verbruggen.pdf
I hope it will be helpfull !
http://igitur-archive.library.uu.nl/dissertations/2010-0209-200152/verbruggen.pdf
Is it a problem if the mollusc chitin is emersed in Ethanol for months-years?
You can please refer to the following link to get certain valuable details:-
http://paperity.org/p/11422351/effects-of-chemical-pretreatments-on-d18o-measurements-chemical-composition-and
Theoretically, storage in EtOH should not pose a problem for 18O analysis of chitin with "should" being the operative word here. In contrast to H exchange of H bound to hetero atoms such as O or N, there is no such thing as "O exchange" (of O in organic compounds).
To avoid any artefact results, your samples need to be absolutely dry however. In other words, any traces of EtOH need to be removed prior to 18O analysis e.g. by drying milled or ground chitin under high vacuum until sample weight remains constant.
Given the O precursor pool for O in chitin is not just O bound in H2O the question would be how strong the correlation would be and thus how good a proxy chitin d18O would be for palaeoclimatic temperature.
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