Leaf-level molecular markers of temperature, light, and water stress.

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dc.contributor.advisorHockaday, William C., 1979-
dc.creatorWang, Zhao, 1990-
dc.creator.orcid0000-0002-6659-8936
dc.date.accessioned2024-07-17T13:58:36Z
dc.date.available2024-07-17T13:58:36Z
dc.date.created2023-08
dc.date.issued2023-08
dc.date.submittedAugust 2023
dc.date.updated2024-07-17T13:58:36Z
dc.description.abstractFew biomarker proxies inform terrestrial climates and ecosystem variables on geological time scales, probably because the reconstructions are mostly based on the lacustrine or oceanographic lens. Leaf lipids are valuable tools for the reconstruction of terrestrial paleoclimates since one of the lipids’ functional roles is to respond/adapt to environmental abiotic factors in the context of the ecosystem. However, two major obstacles have prevented the leaf-lipid proxies from applying to multifaceted plant physiological and geochemical issues to gain insights into the climate. One is that traditional lipid analysis requiring lipid extraction with follow-up cleaning step(s) prior to mass-spectrometry analysis, is considered as time-consuming and labor-intensive. The other is a lack of systematic investigation of the leaf lipids in modern plants in response to environmental factors. Therefore, the original research in this dissertation is divided into three themes involving leaf lipids in modern plants systematically varying with dynamic natural environmental abiotic factors. The first theme is designed for developing a feasible analytical method to extract and fractionate complicated leaf lipids concurrently on large-sample sets to improve statistical treatments. The lipids in leaves and lacustrine sediment are efficiently separated based on functional groups with a combination of adsorbents and solvents using pressurized solvent extraction with an in-cell cleanup method. The second theme is oriented toward understanding the responses of leaf lipids in deciduous and evergreen species to ambient-environmental abiotic factors (temperature, light, and water) and reconstructing seasonality using multi-lipid models. In the models, the seasonal variations of temperature and light absorbed by the canopy were correctly predicted by a multitude of leaf lipids, including leaf wax (n-alkanes, n-alkanols, n-alkanoic acids) and membrane lipids (sterols and unsaturated fatty acids). The third theme concerns leaf lipids in response to microclimates and potential driving mechanisms for the responses. Leaf lipid profiles are influenced by interactions between micro- and macro-climates with a water reservation strategy dependency. Leaf wax for both species changed with leaf water content and leaf-level light irradiance influenced by topography, seasons, and overstory canopy structure while leaf isoprenoids varied with changing light irradiance (leaf-level and overstory canopy structure) associated with the monthly temperature changes.
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.identifier.uri
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/2104/12783
dc.language.isoEnglish
dc.rights.accessrightsNo access – contact librarywebmaster@baylor.edu
dc.titleLeaf-level molecular markers of temperature, light, and water stress.
dc.typeThesis
dc.type.materialtext
local.embargo.lift2025-08-01
local.embargo.terms2025-08-01
thesis.degree.departmentBaylor University. Dept. of Geosciences.
thesis.degree.grantorBaylor University
thesis.degree.namePh.D.
thesis.degree.programGeology
thesis.degree.schoolBaylor University

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