Citation:

PANGAEA.983453

Name: n-Alkane Distributions of Modern Plants from C3-Dominated Eastern African Ecosystems
Published: 2025-07-07
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Keywords: Africa; alkanes; C3; distribution; grass; Kenya; Plant wax; proxy

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Published: 2025-07-07 • DOI registered: 2025-08-05

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Abstract:

This dataset comprises plant wax n-alkane chain length concentrations and C25-C35 relative abundances of 209 plant specimens from two Kenyan C3-dominated ecosystems, representing a wide range of plant functional types (PFTs). Plant samples were collected in 2018 from Mount Kenya National Park (n=122) and Kakamega National Forest (n=87). At Mount Kenya National Park, samples were collected along an elevational transect (~2400 m to ~3600 m above sea level) from five different ecotones: lower montane forest, bamboo zone, upper montane forest, ericaceous shrubland belt and Afroalpine moorland. Kakamega National Forest is ~1600m above sea level and samples were collected from an open glade, forest path edge, and closed canopy forest. All plant samples were identified to family level, most to genus or species level. Information on collection habitat, photosynthetic pathway, and plant functional type are included. The goal of this dataset was to assess n-alkane distributions for chemotaxonomic signals. Sample analysis took place at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and Harvard University between 2022-2024. n-Alkane data were quantified using a gas chromatograph mass selective detector (GC-MSD) and a flame ionization detector (FID), and response factor corrections were calculated and applied to measured n-alkane peak areas in order to calculate corrected concentrations. The odd n-alkane C25-C35 concentrations were relativized to sum to 1 for the final relative abundance data. For more detailed information, please consult the associated manuscript on the n-alkane distributions and their chemotaxonomic significance: Tweedy et al., 2025.

Keyword(s):

Africa; alkanes; C3; distribution; grass; Kenya; Plant wax; proxy

Supplement to:

Tweedy, Ruth; Strömberg, Caroline A E; Reichgelt, Tammo; Kinyanjui, Rahab N; Kimeu, Mbaluka; Munyaka, Venanzio; Uno, Kevin (2025): African C3 grass n-alkane distributions & plant chemotaxonomy. Organic Geochemistry, 208, 104994, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orggeochem.2025.104994

Funding:

National Science Foundation (NSF), grant/award no. EAR 19-45446 : CAREER: Developing novel biomarker proxies to constrain Neogene changes in African woody cover and paleoecological contexts of hominin evolution

Coverage:

Median Latitude: 0.049555 * Median Longitude: 36.212882 * South-bound Latitude: -0.180000 * West-bound Longitude: 34.860000 * North-bound Latitude: 0.356070 * East-bound Longitude: 37.236000

Date/Time Start: 2018-11-18T00:00:00 * Date/Time End: 2018-11-25T00:00:00

Minimum ELEVATION: 1572 m a.s.l. * Maximum ELEVATION: 3608 m a.s.l.

Event(s):

KPSS_2018_Kakamega * Latitude Start: 0.335000 * Longitude Start: 34.860000 * Latitude End: 0.356070 * Longitude End: 34.870000 * Date/Time Start: 2018-11-18T00:00:00 * Date/Time End: 2018-11-19T00:00:00 * Elevation Start: 1572.0 m * Elevation End: 1616.0 m * Location: Kakamega Forest, Western Kenya * Method/Device: Sampling by hand (HAND)

KPSS_2018_MountKenya * Latitude Start: -0.180000 * Longitude Start: 37.145000 * Latitude End: -0.167000 * Longitude End: 37.236000 * Date/Time Start: 2018-11-23T00:00:00 * Date/Time End: 2018-11-24T00:00:00 * Elevation Start: 2445.0 m * Elevation End: 3608.0 m * Location: Mt. Kenya, Kenya, Africa * Method/Device: Sampling by hand (HAND)

Parameter(s):

#	Name	Short Name	Unit	Principal Investigator	Method/Device	Comment
1	Event label	Event		Tweedy, Ruth
2	Sample code/label	Sample label		Tweedy, Ruth
3	LATITUDE	Latitude		Tweedy, Ruth		Geocode
4	LONGITUDE	Longitude		Tweedy, Ruth		Geocode
5	ELEVATION	Elevation	m a.s.l.	Tweedy, Ruth		Geocode
6	DATE/TIME	Date/Time		Tweedy, Ruth		Geocode
7	Species	Species		Tweedy, Ruth	World Flora Online
8	Family	Family		Tweedy, Ruth
9	Subfamily	Subfamily		Tweedy, Ruth		of grass
10	Additional information	Add info		Tweedy, Ruth		Monocot/Dicot
11	Growth form	Growth form		Tweedy, Ruth
12	Photosynthetic pathway	Photosynth pathw		Tweedy, Ruth
13	Microhabitat	Microhabitat		Tweedy, Ruth
14	Vegetation type	Vegetation type		Tweedy, Ruth
15	n-Alkane C10, per unit sediment mass	C10/sed	µg/g	Tweedy, Ruth	Gas chromatography - Flame Ionization Detection (GC-FID) and Gas chromatography - Mass spectrometry (GC-MS)
16	n-Alkane C11, per unit sediment mass	C11/sed	µg/g	Tweedy, Ruth	Gas chromatography - Flame Ionization Detection (GC-FID) and Gas chromatography - Mass spectrometry (GC-MS)
17	n-Alkane C12, per unit sediment mass	C12/sed	µg/g	Tweedy, Ruth	Gas chromatography - Flame Ionization Detection (GC-FID) and Gas chromatography - Mass spectrometry (GC-MS)
18	n-Alkane C13, per unit sediment mass	C13/sed	µg/g	Tweedy, Ruth	Gas chromatography - Flame Ionization Detection (GC-FID) and Gas chromatography - Mass spectrometry (GC-MS)
19	n-Alkane C14, per unit sediment mass	C14/sed	µg/g	Tweedy, Ruth	Gas chromatography - Flame Ionization Detection (GC-FID) and Gas chromatography - Mass spectrometry (GC-MS)
20	n-Pentadecane, per unit sediment mass	C15/sed	µg/g	Tweedy, Ruth	Gas chromatography - Flame Ionization Detection (GC-FID) and Gas chromatography - Mass spectrometry (GC-MS)
21	n-Alkane C16, per unit sediment mass	C16/sed	µg/g	Tweedy, Ruth	Gas chromatography - Flame Ionization Detection (GC-FID) and Gas chromatography - Mass spectrometry (GC-MS)
22	n-Alkane C17, per unit sediment mass	C17/sed	µg/g	Tweedy, Ruth	Gas chromatography - Flame Ionization Detection (GC-FID) and Gas chromatography - Mass spectrometry (GC-MS)
23	n-Alkane C18, per unit sediment mass	C18/sed	µg/g	Tweedy, Ruth	Gas chromatography - Flame Ionization Detection (GC-FID) and Gas chromatography - Mass spectrometry (GC-MS)
24	n-Alkane C19, per unit sediment mass	C19/sed	µg/g	Tweedy, Ruth	Gas chromatography - Flame Ionization Detection (GC-FID) and Gas chromatography - Mass spectrometry (GC-MS)
25	n-Alkane C20, per unit sediment mass	C20/sed	µg/g	Tweedy, Ruth	Gas chromatography - Flame Ionization Detection (GC-FID) and Gas chromatography - Mass spectrometry (GC-MS)
26	n-Alkane C21, per unit sediment mass	C21/sed	µg/g	Tweedy, Ruth	Gas chromatography - Flame Ionization Detection (GC-FID) and Gas chromatography - Mass spectrometry (GC-MS)
27	n-Alkane C22, per unit sediment mass	C22/sed	µg/g	Tweedy, Ruth	Gas chromatography - Flame Ionization Detection (GC-FID) and Gas chromatography - Mass spectrometry (GC-MS)
28	n-Alkane C23, per unit sediment mass	C23/sed	µg/g	Tweedy, Ruth	Gas chromatography - Flame Ionization Detection (GC-FID) and Gas chromatography - Mass spectrometry (GC-MS)
29	n-Alkane C24, per unit sediment mass	C24/sed	µg/g	Tweedy, Ruth	Gas chromatography - Flame Ionization Detection (GC-FID) and Gas chromatography - Mass spectrometry (GC-MS)
30	n-Alkane C25, per unit sediment mass	C25/sed	µg/g	Tweedy, Ruth	Gas chromatography - Flame Ionization Detection (GC-FID) and Gas chromatography - Mass spectrometry (GC-MS)
31	n-Alkane C26, per unit sediment mass	C26/sed	µg/g	Tweedy, Ruth	Gas chromatography - Flame Ionization Detection (GC-FID) and Gas chromatography - Mass spectrometry (GC-MS)
32	n-Alkane C27, per unit sediment mass	C27/sed	µg/g	Tweedy, Ruth	Gas chromatography - Flame Ionization Detection (GC-FID) and Gas chromatography - Mass spectrometry (GC-MS)
33	n-Alkane C28, per unit sediment mass	C28/sed	µg/g	Tweedy, Ruth	Gas chromatography - Flame Ionization Detection (GC-FID) and Gas chromatography - Mass spectrometry (GC-MS)
34	n-Alkane C29, per unit sediment mass	C29/sed	µg/g	Tweedy, Ruth	Gas chromatography - Flame Ionization Detection (GC-FID) and Gas chromatography - Mass spectrometry (GC-MS)
35	n-Alkane C30, per unit sediment mass	C30/sed	µg/g	Tweedy, Ruth	Gas chromatography - Flame Ionization Detection (GC-FID) and Gas chromatography - Mass spectrometry (GC-MS)
36	n-Alkane C31, per unit sediment mass	C31/sed	µg/g	Tweedy, Ruth	Gas chromatography - Flame Ionization Detection (GC-FID) and Gas chromatography - Mass spectrometry (GC-MS)
37	n-Alkane C32, per unit sediment mass	C32/sed	µg/g	Tweedy, Ruth	Gas chromatography - Flame Ionization Detection (GC-FID) and Gas chromatography - Mass spectrometry (GC-MS)
38	n-Alkane C33, per unit sediment mass	C33/sed	µg/g	Tweedy, Ruth	Gas chromatography - Flame Ionization Detection (GC-FID) and Gas chromatography - Mass spectrometry (GC-MS)
39	n-Alkane C34, per unit sediment mass	C34/sed	µg/g	Tweedy, Ruth	Gas chromatography - Flame Ionization Detection (GC-FID) and Gas chromatography - Mass spectrometry (GC-MS)
40	n-Alkane C35, per unit sediment mass	C35/sed	µg/g	Tweedy, Ruth	Gas chromatography - Flame Ionization Detection (GC-FID) and Gas chromatography - Mass spectrometry (GC-MS)
41	n-Alkane C36, per unit sediment mass	C36/sed	µg/g	Tweedy, Ruth	Gas chromatography - Flame Ionization Detection (GC-FID) and Gas chromatography - Mass spectrometry (GC-MS)
42	n-Alkane C37, per unit sediment mass	C37/sed	µg/g	Tweedy, Ruth	Gas chromatography - Flame Ionization Detection (GC-FID) and Gas chromatography - Mass spectrometry (GC-MS)
43	n-Alkane C38, per unit sediment mass	C38/sed	µg/g	Tweedy, Ruth	Gas chromatography - Flame Ionization Detection (GC-FID) and Gas chromatography - Mass spectrometry (GC-MS)
44	n-Alkane C39, per unit sediment mass	C39/sed	µg/g	Tweedy, Ruth	Gas chromatography - Flame Ionization Detection (GC-FID) and Gas chromatography - Mass spectrometry (GC-MS)
45	n-Alkane C40, per unit sediment mass	C40/sed	µg/g	Tweedy, Ruth	Gas chromatography - Flame Ionization Detection (GC-FID) and Gas chromatography - Mass spectrometry (GC-MS)
46	Sum n-alkanes C25-C35, per unit sediment mass	(C25-C35)/sed	µg/g	Tweedy, Ruth	Gas chromatography - Flame Ionization Detection (GC-FID) and Gas chromatography - Mass spectrometry (GC-MS)
47	n-Alkane C25, fractional abundance	C25		Tweedy, Ruth		Concentration of nC25 alkane as a proportion of the nC25-nC35 odd alkane overall concentration
48	n-Alkane C27, fractional abundance	C27		Tweedy, Ruth		Concentration of nC27 alkane as a proportion of the nC25-nC35 odd alkane overall concentration
49	n-Alkane C29, fractional abundance	C29		Tweedy, Ruth		Concentration of nC29 alkane as a proportion of the nC25-nC35 odd alkane overall concentration
50	n-Alkane C31, fractional abundance	C31		Tweedy, Ruth		Concentration of nC31 alkane as a proportion of the nC25-nC35 odd alkane overall concentration
51	n-Alkane C33, fractional abundance	C33		Tweedy, Ruth		Concentration of nC33 alkane as a proportion of the nC25-nC35 odd alkane overall concentration
52	n-Pentatriacontane, fractional abundance	C35		Tweedy, Ruth		Concentration of nC35 alkane as a proportion of the nC25-nC35 odd alkane overall concentration
53	Average chain length, odd	odd-ACL		Tweedy, Ruth		nC25-nC35
54	Carbon Preference Index, n-Alkanes (C25-C35)	CPI 25-35		Tweedy, Ruth

License:

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY-4.0)

Status:

Curation Level: Enhanced curation (CurationLevelC)

Size:

10019 data points

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