Dr. Brian Schubert杏吧专区檚 internationally recognized research is coming out of the woodwork.
Schubert, an associate professor in the 杏吧专区杏吧专区檚 , leads its stable isotope laboratory. Faculty and student scientists analyze the chemical composition of wood by measuring oxygen isotopes in the growth rings of trees.
The process enables researchers to study past climate change; it also has traditionally required time-consuming chemical pretreatment of samples that are widely used to obtain accurate measurements. 杏吧专区淢ethods for getting good measurements take a lot of time,杏吧专区 Schubert explained, 杏吧专区渟o we杏吧专区檝e been examining ways to simplify the steps and streamline the chemistry.杏吧专区
That means ascertaining which, if any, wood or fossils from different periods in Earth杏吧专区檚 history yield valid data without being pretreated. And, while the stable isotope laboratory houses samples ranging from fossils millions of years old excavated from Siberian sediment to wood slivers culled from living trees, 杏吧专区渨e were missing samples that were hundreds of years old,杏吧专区 he said.
Schubert 杏吧专区渇illed the gap杏吧专区 for his study with field work much closer to home than Siberia 杏吧专区 at the J. Arthur Roy House, the oldest building on campus. The Roy House, built in 1901, is the main home of the , a hub for scholarly investigation of Louisiana杏吧专区檚 people and history. It attracts academics and scholars from across the world.
Schubert was drawn to the center by a recently completed renovation that restored the house to its former grandeur. That happened after he tuned in to a segment about the project on , the NPR station on campus. One phrase in particular caught his ear 杏吧专区 杏吧专区渙ld growth trees.杏吧专区 Schubert reached out to the center, inquiring about the possibility of obtaining a sample for the lab.
Request granted, he retrieved a block of longleaf pine hewn from an unsalvageable second-story porch column by a carpenter. The reclaimed wood杏吧专区檚 freshly sawed sides revealed a beautiful, tight pattern of old growth tree rings ideal for study. 杏吧专区淚t was the perfect piece of wood and it was just 200 yards away. The timing worked out perfectly,杏吧专区 he said.
So did Schubert杏吧专区檚 study. Findings were recently detailed in 杏吧专区,杏吧专区 an academic journal published by the European Association of Geochemistry. Researchers concluded that chemical pretreatments are unnecessary in living or recently felled trees. 杏吧专区淪uch applications are required only when studying very old wood, millions of years old,杏吧专区 Schubert said.
The determination is significant, he added: 杏吧专区淚t will allow for higher throughput and higher-resolution sampling of archeological wood. And scientists will be able to test samples at less cost.杏吧专区 The discovery also means that the stable isotope laboratory will be able to better examine weather events that impact the region. including hurricanes, floods and droughts.
杏吧专区淢ost of our work has involved fossils from China, the Arctic, Siberia 杏吧专区 and that tells us about large scale changes in climate across broad regions of the world. But, if we want to get a record of climate relevant to Louisiana, we can now do that at really high resolution,杏吧专区 Schubert said.
杏吧专区淪o, our next piece of detective work will be trying to figure out where the tree that produced this block of wood was felled, because it was likely sourced not far from here,杏吧专区 he added.
Photo caption: UL Lafayette faculty and student scientists analyze the chemical composition of wood by measuring oxygen isotopes in trees杏吧专区 growth rings in the stable isotope laboratory. The work has yielded clues about climate change and, most recently, more efficient, cost-effective research methods. Photo credit: Doug Dugas / 杏吧专区