No abstract

The commonly used technique for determination of plant stable carbon isotope composition is analysis of CO 2 liberated during combustion of chemically extracted nitrocellulose or ␣-cellulose. The ␦ 13 C of cellulose is usually accepted as a more reliable record of growth environment conditions compared with bulk plant material analysis. Unfortunately, cellulose extraction techniques are time-consuming, and usually require toxic chemicals such as toluene, chloroform, benzene, methanol, concentrated acids, etc. We tested the possibility of replacing nitrocellulose analysis with bulk organic analysis. Sphagnum and Polytrichum mosses collected along a vertical transect (altitudes 500 to 1400 m), provided material for analysis in the wide range of ␦ 13 C: Ϫ32.66‰ and Ϫ26.20‰ for bulk organic matter and Ϫ24.11‰ and Ϫ31.86‰ for nitrocellulose. The correlation for ␦ 13 C value of extracted cellulose and ␦ 13 C values of bulk organic matter were very good (Ͼ0.95). Our results suggested that ␦ 13 C analyses can be performed on bulk plant material instead of cellulose, without significant loss of information, at least for Polytrichum and Sphagnum mosses. Moreover, we confirmed that the extraction process of nitrocellulose did not cause any significant isotopic fractionation. (J Am Soc Mass

No abstract