Carbon stable isotope analyses of mosses—comparisons of bulk organic matter and extracted nitrocellulose

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 evidence that chronic nitrogen additions increase photosynthesis in mature sugar maple forests

“…Whole tissue (including foliage) d 13 C values are highly correlated with those from extracted tissues (Verheyden et al 2005, Skrzypek et al 2007, Ares et al 2008, Eglin et al 2008, Powers et al 2008, Taylor et al 2008, Eglin et al 2009). The ECS was calibrated with four atropine standards of varying mass to cover the range of N in the samples.…”

Multiproxy evidence of `Little Ice Age' palaeoenvironmental changes in a peat bog from northern Poland

“…Then, stems were dried in an oven at 50°C. Because isotopic composition of carbon in bulk organic material closely follows the isotopic pattern measured in α-cellulose and nitrocellulose (Ménot-Combes et al, 2004;Skrzypek et al, 2007), all the measurements were performed on bulk organic material of Sphagnum stems. Fragments of stems weighing about 50 µg were used for each measurement.…”

Environmental and taxonomic controls of carbon and oxygen stable isotope composition in <i>Sphagnum</i> across broad climatic and geographic ranges

“…When not submerged, carbon isotope signals in bulk tissues or components such as cellulose depend mainly on the [CO2] in the chloroplast ([CO2]c), which alters isotope discrimination during biochemical fixation of CO2 and by fractionation caused by diffusion to the chloroplast (Farquhar et al 1989, O'Leary 1988. In mosses, [CO 2]c has been shown to be determined by temperature, light availability, CO2 partial pressure and, most importantly, plant water status (Finsinger et al 2013, van der Knaap et al 2011, Ménot and Burns 2001, Ménot-Combes et al 2004, Royles et al 2014, Skrzypek et al 2007a, Kaislahti Tillman et al 2013. When wet, external water films on leaf surfaces impede diffusion and…”