Perylene as an indicator of conifer fossil wood degradation by wood-degrading fungi

and observed a wide range of values (0.001 for less degraded wood to 0.95 for highly degraded samples). Anatomical wood preservation was associated with CWDI values. In most of the samples characterised by poorly preserved anatomy, high CWDI values were observed, while anatomically well-preserved samples generally had lower CWDI values. We determined similar δ13C values for perylene from the fossil wood samples (−26.4% to −27.8%), whereas the values for the conifer biomarkers were slightly higher and varied from −25.6% to −26.6%. In contrast, pyrene was depleted in 13C (−27.5% to −28.2%). The carbon isotope values of perylene are consistent with an origin from wood-degrading fungi.