A 26-year Composite Stable Isotope Record of Precipitation, Humidity and El Niño in the Spines of Saguaro Cactus, Carnegiea gigantea.

Seasonal cycles of rainfall and humidity are recorded by stable isotopes in the spines of columnar cactuses. Multi-decadal δ18O and δ13C records of spine series from five saguaro cactuses, dated using bomb radiocarbon and semi-annual variations in δ13C, demonstrate the reproducibility of a climate signal. For δ18O and δ13C, the expressed population signal between 1980 and 2006 is 0.68 and 0.66, respectively, but 0.76 and 0.59 between 1980 and 1997, suggesting that age/height related effects are present in isotopic spine series. Composite δ18O and δ13C records constructed from five spine series show significant relationships to external climate forcing. Once dating errors are corrected, mean annual spine δ18O is negatively correlated with total annual precipitation (TAP) from November through October (P < 0.001) and positively correlated with mean annual nighttime vapor pressure deficit (VPD) (P < 0.01). Year to year decreases (> 2‰) in the maximum annual spine δ18O are positively correlated with the Southern Oscillation Index (P < 0.01). We hypothesize these decreases are caused by El Niño enhanced winter rainfall. While less significant, minimum annual δ13C is negatively correlated with TAP (P < 0.05) and mean nighttime VPD (P < 0.05). These results bolster proposed mechanistic models of isotopic variation in the spines of columnar cactuses and demonstrate the use of isotopic spine series as climate proxies.