@article{Fraser:2011:10.3402/polar.v30i0.8312,
author = {Fraser, WT and Sephton, MA and Watson, JS and Self, S and Lomax, BH and James, DI and Wellman, CH and Callaghan, TV and Beerling, DJ},
doi = {10.3402/polar.v30i0.8312},
journal = {Polar Research},
pages = {8312--8318},
title = {UV-B absorbing pigments in spores: biochemical responses to shade in a high-latitude birch forest and implications for sporopollenin-based proxies of past environmental change},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/polar.v30i0.8312},
volume = {30},
year = {2011}
}

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TY  - JOUR
AB  - Current attempts to develop a proxy for Earth’s surface ultraviolet-B (UV-B) flux focus on the organic chemistry of pollen and spores because their constituent biopolymer, sporopollenin, contains UV-B absorbing pigments whose relative abundance may respond to the ambient UV-B flux. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR microspectroscopy provides a useful tool for rapidly determining the pigment content of spores. In this paper, we use FTIR to detect a chemical response of spore wall UV-B absorbing pigments that correspond with levels of shade beneath the canopy of a high-latitude Swedish birch forest. A 27% reduction in UV-B flux beneath the canopy leads to a significant (p<0.05) 7.3% reduction in concentration of UV-B absorbing compounds in sporopollenin. The field data from this natural flux gradient in UV-B further support our earlier work on sporopollenin-based proxies derived from sedimentary records and herbaria collections.
AU  - Fraser,WT
AU  - Sephton,MA
AU  - Watson,JS
AU  - Self,S
AU  - Lomax,BH
AU  - James,DI
AU  - Wellman,CH
AU  - Callaghan,TV
AU  - Beerling,DJ
DO  - 10.3402/polar.v30i0.8312
EP  - 8318
PY  - 2011///
SN  - 1751-8369
SP  - 8312
TI  - UV-B absorbing pigments in spores: biochemical responses to shade in a high-latitude birch forest and implications for sporopollenin-based proxies of past environmental change
T2  - Polar Research
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/polar.v30i0.8312
VL  - 30
ER  - 

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