Research group - Stable Isotopes

Lab manager:Dr. Beata Gebus-Czupyt

Institute of Geological Sciences, Polish Academy of Sciences

Research Centre in Warsaw

Twarda 51/55, 00-818 Warszawa

phone (48) 22 6978-714

e-mail:b.gebus@twarda.pan.pl 

Team:

Dr. Beata Gebus-Czupyt - Assistant professor, email b.gebus@twarda.pan.pl

Dr. habil.Maciej T. Krajcarz - Associate professor, email mkrajcarz@twarda.pan.pl

Dr. Adam Porowski - research-technical specialist, email adamp@twarda.pan.pl

MSc Magdalena Radzikowska - isotope geochemistry specialist, email radzikowska@twarda.pan.pl

BSc Joanna Hryciuk - technician, email j.hryciuk@twarda.pan.pl

Dr. Beata Gebus-Czupyt

Dr.  Beata Gebus‑Czupyt - assistant

Institute of Geological Sciences, Polish Academy of Sciences

Research Centre in Warsaw

Twarda 51/55, 00-818 Warszawa

phone (48) 22 6978-714

e-mail: b.gebus@twarda.pan.pl

Administrative functions:

• Manager of the Stable Isotopes Lab

Research interest

Application of isotope methods in environmental research, in particular:

• studying the processes occurring with the participation of biogenic components, mainly nitrogen and phosphorus compounds, tracking the rate of these processes in various reservoirs using chemical and isotopic data;
• use of isotopic methods to determine the sources of groundwater and surface waters pollutions, in particular waters endangered by anthropogenic eutrophication.

Dr. Maciej T. Krajcarz

Dr. hab. Maciej T. Krajcarz - professor of the Institute

Institute of Geological Sciences, Polish Academy of Sciences

Research Centre in Warsaw

Twarda 51/55, 00-818 Warszawa

phone (48) 22 6978-989

e-mail:mkrajcarz@twarda.pan.pl

www:http://www.ing.pan.pl/pracownicy/maciej-krajcarz

Administrative function:

• Scientific coordinator of the Stable Isotopes Lab

Research interest

Maciej T. Krajcarz gained a PhD grade in Earth Sciences at the Faculty of Geology of the University of Warsaw in 2010, and habilitation in 2018 at the Institute of Geological Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences, where he is currently employed. He is specialized in Quaternary geology and works with Upper Pleistocene and Holocene sediments, mainly the near-entrance facies of clastic cave deposits which contain bone remains. He applies geochemical methods such as analysis of stable isotopes and trace elements in fossil bones, supplemented by sedimentological methods (such as micromorphological analysis) to track paleoecology and taphonomic processes. He is engaged in the interdisciplinary studies of archaeological sites in Poland and in Central Asia.

Isotopic paleoecology of Quaternary mammals

Maciej Krajcarz's team is focused on the study of paleoecology and paleoenvironment of ancient animals and humans with use of C, O, N and S stable isotopes.

Trophic enrichment factor

An important issue in isotopic paleoecology is the isotopic shift between the trophic levels, the so-called TEF (Trophic Enrichment Factor). This value indicates the difference between the isotopic composition of a given organism and its food. The fact that many individuals of a given animal species generally exhibit similar isotopic signature, regardless of their origin and geological age, indicates that the TEF value must be constant. Knowledge of this value is crucial for modelling trophic relationships between species, both in the ecology of modern animals and in paleoecology. Together with my colleagues (Prof. Hervé Bocherens, Dr. Magdalena Krajcarz and Dr. Dorothée Drucker), we conducted a research on the trophic enrichment factor of carbon, nitrogen and sulfur (Δ¹³C, Δ¹⁵N and Δ³⁴S) between the bone collagen of a predator and its prey. The research material was a unique collection of subfossil bones of foxes (Vulpes vulpes) and the bones of their victims collected by them, all deposited together in the underground corridors of an abandoned mine.

The TEF value has been repeatedly determined in laboratory conditions, but our research is a unique example of the determination of the TEF value in a wild population and in the tissue (bone collagen), which is can survive as a fossil. The results are presented in two publications :

• Krajcarz M.T., Krajcarz M., Drucker D.G., Bocherens H. 2019. Prey-to-fox isotopic enrichment of ³⁴S in bone collagen: Implications for palaeoecological studies. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry 33: 1311-1317, doi: 10.1002/rcm.8471.
• Krajcarz M.T., Krajcarz M., Bocherens H. 2018. Collagen-to-collagen prey-predator isotopic enrichment (Δ¹³C, Δ¹⁵N) in terrestrial mammals – a case study of a subfossil red fox den. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 490: 563-570, doi: 10.1016/j.palaeo.2017.11.044.

Paleoekologia niedźwiedzia jaskiniowego

The cave bear (Ursus spelaeus sensu lato, Rosenmüller, 1794) is the most common species among the finds of the Pleistocene megafauna in Europe. At many cave sites - which are the main source of the Pleistocene mammals - the cave bear accounts for over 90% of the material. My team (including Dr. Magdalena Krajcarz and Dr. Adrian Marciszak) conducted an isotopic study (δ¹⁸O, δ¹³C), supported by taxonomic and season of death analyzes, on the teeth of bears from the sediments of Biśnik Cave. The unique sedimentary profile, recording the period from the Middle Pleistocene up to the Holocene, has allowed to trace the isotopic changes in bears for over 200,000 years. Our results revealed that in the evolutionary line of U. deningeri → U. spelaeus there is a gradual loss of food specialization and the extension of living space to cooler areas. At the same time, the brown bear U. arctos did not change significantly and showed the uniform isotopic values ​​throughout the entire studied period, similar to U. deningeri. This indicates ecological competition between these two phylogenetic lines. The changes of isotopic signal in the profile indicates that brown bear had a stronger position in this competition, and its presence forced the cave bear's line (U. deningeri → U. spelaeus) to adapt by moving to ecological niches not exploited by the competitor. Results were presented in two publications:

• Krajcarz M.T., Krajcarz M. 2014. The 200,000 year long record of stable isotopes (δ¹⁸O, δ¹³C) of cave bear (Ursus spelaeus) teeth from one site – Biśnik Cave, Poland. Quaternary International 339-340: 119-130, doi: 10.1016/j.quaint.2013.07.022.
• Krajcarz M.T., Krajcarz M., Marciszak A. 2014. Paleoecology of bears from MIS 8 – MIS 3 deposits of Biśnik Cave based on stable isotopes (δ¹³C, δ¹⁸O) and dental cementum analyses. Quaternary International 326-327: 114-124, doi: 10.1016/j.quaint.2013.10.067.

In cooperation with a wide range of specialists in isotopic paleoecology and bear paleontology, we traced the geographical diversity of the isotopic signal in cave bear bone collagen in the period of 60,00 -30,000 years BP on the European continent. It was possible due to a wide database of samples from all over Europe (published and unpublished archival data of Prof. Hervé Bocherens), supplemented with our new data from Central Europe (Poland, Austria, and Slovakia). Statistical analysis of the results clearly revealed the similarity of cave bears from all Central European, Western European and Alpine sites, as well as some Southern European and Caucasian ones. Interestingly, we found a clear separation of Romanian populations. Comparison of isotopic signature ​​with geographical data (latitude, longitude, and altitude) revealed a clear relationship between δ¹⁵N and the altitude, in line with the trend known in plants and observed in farmed animals. The lack of an analogous relationship for the δ¹³C value indicates that individual populations inhabited different ecosystems. For example, Alpine bears lived in forestry conditions, unlike the lowland bears that inhabited the forest-steppe ecosystems. The results are presented in the publication:

• Krajcarz M., Pacher M., Krajcarz M.T., Laughlan L., Rabeder G., Sabol M., Wojtal P., Bocherens H. 2016. Isotopic variability of cave bears (δ¹⁵N, δ¹³C) across Europe during MIS 3. Quaternary Science Reviews 131: 51-72, doi: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2015.10.028.

Selected publications

Dr. Maciej Tomasz Krajcarz, PhD

(for full publication list please see the website http://www.ing.pan.pl/pracownicy/maciej-krajcarz)

2020

• Kolobova K.A., Roberts R.G., Chabai V.P., Jacobs Z., Krajcarz M.T., Shalagina A.V., Krivoshapkin A.I., Li B., Uthmeier T., Markin S.V., Morley M.W., O’Gorman K., Rudaya N.A., Talamo S., Viola B., Derevianko A.P. 2020. Archaeological evidence for two separate dispersals of Neanderthals into southern Siberia. PNAS 117 (6): 2879-2885, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1918047117.

• Krajcarz M.T., Szymanek M., Krajcarz M., Pereswiet-Soltan A., Alexandrowicz W.P., Sudoł-Procyk M. 2020. Shelter in Smoleń III – A unique example of stratified Holocene clastic cave sediments in Central Europe, a lithostratigraphic stratotype and a record of regional paleoecology. PLoS ONE 15 (2): e0228546, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0228546.

• Krivoshapkin A., Viola B., Chargynov T., Krajcarz M.T., Krajcarz M., Fedorowicz S., Shnaider S., Kolobova K. 2020. Middle Paleolithic variability in Central Asia: Lithic assemblage of Sel’Ungur cave. Quaternary International 535: 88-103, doi: 10.1016/j.quaint.2018.09.051.

• Wilczyński J., Krajcarz M.T., Moskal-del Hoyo M., Alexandrowicz W.P., Miękina B., Pereswiet-Soltan A., Wertz K., Lipecki G., Marciszak A., Lõugas L., Gradziński M., Szczepanek A., Zastawny A., Wojenka M. 2020. Late Glacial and Holocene paleoecology and paleoenvironmental changes in the northern Carpathians foreland: the Żarska Cave (southern Poland) case study. The Holocene (online 12.02.2020), doi: 10.1177/0959683620902220.

2019

• Gretzinger J., Molak M., Reiter E., Pfrengle S., Urban C., Neukamm J., Blant M., Conard N., Cupillard C., Dimitrijević V., Drucker D., Hofman-Kamińska E., Kowalczyk R., Krajcarz M.T., Krajcarz M., Münzel S.C., Peresani M., Romandini M., Rufí I., Soler J., Terlato G., Krause J., Bocherens H. 2019. Large-scale mitogenomic analysis of the phylogeography of the Late Pleistocene cave bear. Scientific Reports 9: 10700, doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-47073-z.             
• Kot M., Gryczewska N., Berto C., Wojenka M., Szeliga M., Jaskulska E., Fetner R., Krajcarz M., Wertz K., Zarzecka-Szubińska K., Krajcarz M.T., Moskal-del Hoyo M., Leloch M., Jakubczak M. 2019. Thirteen cave sites: settlement patterns in Sąspów Valley, Polish Jura. Antiquity 93 (371): e30, doi: 10.15184/aqy.2019.155.
• Krajcarz M., Krajcarz M.T. 2019. Post-depositional bone destruction in cave sediments: a micromorphological study of the MIS 5a-d cave bear strata of Biśnik Cave, Poland. Journal of Quaternary Science 34 (2): 138-152, doi: 10.1002/jqs.3087.  
• Krajcarz M.T. 2019. Alteration of the metal content in animal bones after 2.5-year experimental exposure to sediments. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 11 (1): 361–372, doi: 10.1007/s12520-017-0533-2.
• Krajcarz M.T., Krajcarz M., Drucker D.G., Bocherens H. 2019. Prey-to-fox isotopic enrichment of ³⁴S in bone collagen: Implications for palaeoecological studies. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry 33: 1311-1317, doi: 10.1002/rcm.8471.

2018

• Baca M., Popović D., Panagiotopoulou H., Marciszak A., Krajcarz M., Krajcarz M.T., Makowiecki D., Węgleński P., Nadachowski A. 2018. Human-mediated dispersal of cats in the Neolithic Central Europe. Heredity 121 (6): 557-563, doi: 10.1038/s41437-018-0071-4            
• Krajcarz M.T., Krajcarz M., Bocherens, H. 2018. Collagen-to-collagen prey-predator isotopic enrichment (Δ¹³C, Δ¹⁵N) in terrestrial mammals – a case study of a subfossil red fox den. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 490: 563-570, doi: 10.1016/j.palaeo.2017.11.044.          
• Krajcarz M.T., Krajcarz M., Ginter B., Goslar T., Wojtal P. 2018. Toward the chronology of Jerzmanowician – the new series of radiocarbon dates from Nietoperzowa Cave (Poland). Archaeometry 60 (2): 383-401, doi: 10.1111/arcm.12311.     

2017

• Shnaider S.V., Krajcarz M.T., Viola T.B., Abdykanova A., Kolobova K.A., Fedorchenko A.Y., Alisher-kyzy S., Krivoshapkin A.I. 2017. New investigations of the Epipalaeolithic in western Central Asia: Obishir-5. Antiquity 91, 3: 1-7, doi: 10.15184/aqy.2017.213

Accepted for publication:

• Stefaniak K., Lipecki G., Nadachowski A., Semba A., Ratajczak U., Kotowski A., Robličková M., Wojtal P., Shpansky A.V., Malikov D.G.; Krakhmalnaya T.V., Kovalchuk O.M., Boeskorov G.G., Nikolskiy P.A., Baryshnikov G.F., Ridush B., Jakubowski G., Pawłowska K., Cyrek K., Sudoł-Procyk M., Czyżewski Ł., Krajcarz M., Krajcarz M.T., Żeromska A., Gagat P., Mackiewicz P. (2019). Diversity of muskox Ovibos moschatus (Zimmerman, 1780) (Bovidae, Mammalia) in time and space based on cranial morphometry. Historical Biology (accepted on 07.09.2019), doi: 10.1080/08912963.2019.1666374.

Dr. Beata Gebus-Czupyt             

2020

• Gebus-Czupyt B., Chmiel S., Trembaczowski A., Pelc A., Hałas S.†. 2020. Simultaneous preparation of N2 and CO2 from nitrates as a useful tool for δ15N and δ18O analysis in the example of the Zemborzycki Reservoir preliminary studies. Chemosphere 248: 125754, doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2019.125754.

2018

• Porowski A., Romanova A., Gebus-Czupyt B., Radzikowska M. 2018. Isotopic Composition of Mineral and Therapeutic Bottled Waters in Poland: Comparative Study in the Light of the Quality and the Environmental Parameters. Acta Balneologica 4 (154): 264-271.

Dr. Adam Porowski

(for full publication list please see the website http://www.ing.pan.pl/pracownicy/adam-porowski)

2019

• Porowski A. 2019. AgF desalination procedure for the routine determination of oxygen and hydrogen isotopic composition of saline waters and brines. Isotopes in Environmental Health Studies 55 (1): 45-55, doi: 10.1080/10256016.2018.1561449               
• Porowski A., Porowska D., Hałas S. 2019. Identification of sulfate sources and biogeochemical processes in the aquifer affected by peatland: insights from monitoring of isotopic composition of groundwater sulfate, Kampinos National Park, Poland. Water 11 (7): 1388; doi: 10.3390/w11071388

2018

• Porowski A., Romanova A., Gebus-Czupyt B., Radzikowska M. 2018. Isotopic Composition of Mineral and Therapeutic Bottled Waters in Poland: Comparative Study in the Light of the Quality and the Environmental Parameters. Acta Balneologica 4 (154): 264-271
• Wysocka I., Porowski A., Rogowska A., Kaczor-Kurzawa D. 2018. Pierwiastki ziem rzadkich (REE) w wodach powierzchniowych i podziemnych Polski na tle innych krajów Europy / Rare earth elements (REE) in surface and ground waters of Poland in comparison to other European countries. Przegląd Geologiczny 66 (11) :692-705, doi: 10.7306/2018.12

2017                                                                               

• Żaczek J., Porowski A., 2017. Hydrogeological settings and origin of groundwater composition in the southern part of the Gorce Mts, Kowaniec Mały catchment. Annales Societatis Geologorum Poloniae 87: 183-197, doi: 10.14241/asgp.2017.008  

Accepted for publication:

• Vinograd N., Porowski A. (2020). Application of isotopic and geochemical studies to explain the origin and formation of mineral waters of Staraya Russa Spa, NW Russia. Environmental Earth Sciences 16 (accepted).
• Porowski A., Rman N., Fórizs I., Lamoreaux J. (2019). Introductory Editorial Thematic Issue: “Mineral and Thermal Waters”. Environmental Earth Sciences 16 (the special issue editorial, accepted on 02.07.2019).

M.Sc. Magdalena Radzikowska

2020

• Mirosław-Grabowska J., Obremska M., Zawisza E., Radzikowska M., Stańczak J. 2020. Towards a dystrophic lake: The history of Smolak Lake (northern Poland) on the basis of geochemical and biological data. Catena 187: 104262 , doi: 10.1016/j.catena.2019.104262 .

2019

• Bojanowski M.J., Kędzior A., Porębski S.J., Radzikowska M. 2019. Origin and significance of early-diagenetic calcite concretions and barite from Silurian black shales in the East European Craton, Poland. Acta Geologica Polonica 69 (3): 403-430, doi: 0.24425/agp.2019.126450.

2018

• Porowski A., Romanova A., Gebus-Czupyt B., Radzikowska M. 2018. Isotopic Composition of Mineral and Therapeutic Bottled Waters in Poland: Comparative Study in the Light of the Quality and the Environmental Parameters. Acta Balneologica 4 (154): 264-271

M.Sc. Anastasia Romanova

2019     

• Gruszczyński T., Romanova A., Małecki J., Ziułkiewicz M. 2019. Reconstruction of Thermal Conditions in the Subboreal Inferred from Isotopic Studies of Groundwater and Calcareous Tufa from the Spring Mire Cupola in Wardzyń (Central Poland). Water 11 (9): 1945, doi: 10.3390/w11091945.

2018

• Porowski A., Romanova A., Gebus-Czupyt B., Radzikowska M. 2018. Isotopic Composition of Mineral and Therapeutic Bottled Waters in Poland: Comparative Study in the Light of the Quality and the Environmental Parameters. Acta Balneologica 4 (154): 264-271

Dr. Paweł Zawidzki

2019                                                                                                                           

• Zawidzki P., Hercman H., Szczerba M., Zawidzki P., Trojan A. 2019. Carbon isotopes in wood combustion/pyrolysis products: An experimental and molecular simulation approaches. Geochronometria 46 (1): 111-124, doi: 10.1515/geochr-2015-0110.