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Currently, lignin phenols are used in marine and lacustrine ecosystems as proxies for terrestrial vegetation inputs. Lignins are found in all vascular plants, where they play a crucial role in conduction of water, nutrients and photosynthates through the vascular system, and where they provide structural support. Furthermore, different types of lignin phenols are found in specific types of vegetation (eg, both syringyl and vanillyl phenols are in angiosperm wood, but only vanillyl phenols are in gymnosperm wood). The ratio of lignin phenols (eg syringyl: vanillyl) is indicative of the type of plant from which the lignin phenols were derived. Studies that examine lignin phenols in sedimentary archives assume that lignin phenols are derived solely from terrestrial plants, and changes in the types of lignin phenols are therefore assumed to mark changes in terrestrial vegetation. These assumptions may be flawed, however …