An optimized method for stable isotope analysis of tree rings by extracting cellulose directly from cross-sectional laths

Stable isotopes in tree-ring alpha-cellulose are valued as environmental proxies and their use is steadily increasing; however, preparation of alpha-cellulose is a bottleneck in isotope analysis. Recent methodological breakthrough for extracting tree-ring alpha-cellulose directly from tree-ring cross-sectional laths drastically increased the throughput of tree-ring isotope data. In this paper, we evaluate our recently designed cross-section method. This method employs polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) cases, enabling direct extraction of alpha-cellulose from 1-mm thick tree-ring laths, in combination with fixation sheets to prevent disintegration of freeze-dried alpha-cellulose laths. Perforated PTFE cases are easily producible at an affordable cost. They are made of commonly available lab consumables in catalogs and do not require specially made PTFE parts. Freeze-dried alpha-cellulose laths preserved distinct anatomical structure, enabling precise separation at the tree-ring boundaries. Once separated froma lath, tree-ring alpha-cellulose can beweighed directly into silver or tin capsules for analysis. We checked chemical purity of alpha-cellulose prepared by the cross-section method from five tree species (larch, pine, spruce, beech, and oak). Residual lignin and hemicellulose contents were quantitatively assessed by Fourier transforminfrared spectrometry and gas chromatography. The average chemical purity of alpha-cellulose laths from the five species was 94.5%, similar to the chemical purity of alpha-cellulose prepared with the standard Jayme-Wise method. Both oxygen and carbon isotope values of alpha-cellulose prepared by the cross-section method also closely matched those prepared by the standard method. We conclude that, by overhauling the method of alpha-cellulose preparation for tree-ring isotope analysis, we increased throughput of tree-ring oxygen and carbon isotope data without sacrificing sample purity. (c) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.