Biomarker evidence for the co-occurrence of three races (A, B and L) of Botryococcus braunii in El Junco Lake, Galápagos

Botryococcene and lycopadiene concentrations reached 16.7 and 0.8 mg/g dry sediment in near-surface sediments, and varied over more than three orders of magnitude, while n-alkadienes were present in trace quantities. Pyrolysates from the kerogen fraction of sediment contained lycopadiene and alkadiene related lipids along with chemically resistant polymers of B. braunii cell walls. Apparently n-alkadienes, botryococcenes and lycopadienes and -trienes can survive in oxic sediments for several decades, and the down core variation in these lipids likely reflects changes in lake hydrology, alternately favoring the bloom or near-extinction of B. braunii race B.