Ecological Correlates of Carbon Isotope Composition of Leaves: A Comparative Analysis Testing for the Effects of Temperature, CO 2 and O 2 Partial Pressures and Taxonomic Relatedness on δ 13 C

Ck, Kelly; Fi, Woodward

doi:10.2307/2261603

Cited by 53 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 19 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Several studies have reported localized differences in Δ leaf among woody PFTs and similar results have been observed in metaanalyses of wood δ 13 C (6). Yet previous metaanalyses of Δ leaf of C 3 plants have not found evidence of a PFT effect (22), with the exception that grasses differ from woody plants (4). This likely reflects inadequate control for environmental influences on Δ leaf that are independent of PFT.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 92%

Global patterns in leaf ¹³ C discrimination and implications for studies of past and future climate

Diefendorf

Mueller

Wing

et al. 2010

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

767

640

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Fractionation of carbon isotopes by plants during CO 2 uptake and fixation (Δ leaf ) varies with environmental conditions, but quantitative patterns of Δ leaf across environmental gradients at the global scale are lacking. This impedes interpretation of variability in ancient terrestrial organic matter, which encodes climatic and ecological signals. To address this problem, we converted 3,310 published leaf δ 13 C values into mean Δ leaf values for 334 woody plant species at 105 locations (yielding 570 species-site combinations) representing a wide range of environmental conditions. Our analyses reveal a strong positive correlation between Δ leaf and mean annual precipitation (MAP; R 2 ¼ 0.55), mirroring global trends in gross primary production and indicating stomatal constraints on leaf gas-exchange, mediated by water supply, are the dominant control of Δ leaf at large spatial scales. Independent of MAP, we show a lesser, negative effect of altitude on Δ leaf and minor effects of temperature and latitude. After accounting for these factors, mean Δ leaf of evergreen gymnosperms is lower (by 1-2.7‰) than for other woody plant functional types (PFT), likely due to greater leaf-level water-use efficiency. Together, environmental and PFT effects contribute to differences in mean Δ leaf of up to 6‰ between biomes. Coupling geologic indicators of ancient precipitation and PFT (or biome) with modern Δ leaf patterns has potential to yield more robust reconstructions of atmospheric δ 13 C values, leading to better constraints on past greenhouse-gas perturbations. Accordingly, we estimate a 4.6‰ decline in the δ 13 C of atmospheric CO 2 at the onset of the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, an abrupt global warming event ∼55.8 Ma.biogeochemistry | ecophysiology | fractionation | PETM H uman perturbation of the global carbon (C) cycle is potentially far greater in rate and magnitude than variations in the recent past, pushing predictions of future climate beyond the calibration range of models based on modern and near-modern observations. Robust predictions of future impacts of rising CO 2 require not only extrapolation of ecological patterns along modern environmental gradients but also insights gained from changing ecological patterns at times of high CO 2 and hot climate in the geologic past (1 and 2). Global patterns of variation in leaf carbon isotope (δ 13 C leaf ) values potentially record climate-driven changes in modern plant physiology and biogeochemistry. An understanding of factors controlling plant fractionation (Δ leaf ) at the global scale will improve interpretations of past changes in climate and ecology recorded in ancient terrestrial sedimentary organic carbon (2). Patterns in δ 13 C leaf of living plants at the global scale, however, are unresolved in spite of abundant published data at smaller spatial scales.In living plants, δ 13 C leaf values reflect the balance of photosynthesis and stomatal conductance and their coupled response to the environment (3). Edaphic factors (e.g., water availability, alt...

show abstract

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 92%

Global patterns in leaf ¹³ C discrimination and implications for studies of past and future climate

Diefendorf

Mueller

Wing

et al. 2010

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

767

640

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Above the threshold, additional precipitation has little impact on leaf d 13 C [Leffler and Evans, 1999;Leffler and Enquist, 2002;Song et al, 2008]. The global pattern of plant species-level d 13 C increase with altitude is established from humid areas avoiding drought stress, and hence above this precipitation threshold, reflecting the response of gas exchange physiology to altitude, i.e., reducing stomatal conductance and decreasing the ratio of internal to external CO 2 concentrations (c i /c a ) due to the decreasing temperature and atmospheric partial pressure of CO 2 and O 2 with altitude [e.g., Körner et al, 1991;Kelly and Woodward, 1995]. However, below the precipitation threshold, a negative correlation occurs between total annual precipitation and plant d 13 C, suggesting that precipitation is an important factor influencing plant physiology [Leffler and Evans, 1999;Leffler and Enquist, 2002;Van de Water et al, 2002;Song et al, 2008], i.e., a reduction in stomatal conductance and leaf c i /c a as soil moisture declined.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This phenomenon has been attributed to decreasing temperature and atmospheric partial pressure of CO 2 and O 2 with altitude [e.g., Körner et al, 1991;Kelly and Woodward, 1995]. While in arid areas, drought stress may overtake other factors in determining the sign of plant d 13 C with elevation, and usually leads to a decreasing trend upward due to the increase of precipitation with altitude [e.g., Van de Water et al, 2002].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soil n‐alkane δ¹³C along a mountain slope as an integrator of altitude effect on plant species δ¹³C

Wei

Jia

2009

Geophysical Research Letters

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Carbon isotopic compositions of leaf wax‐derived n‐alkanes (δ13Cwax) and bulk organic matter (δ13CSOM) in surface soils from ca. 1000 to 3800 m above sea level along Mount Gongga, China were investigated for their altitudinal variations. There is a breakpoint, suggesting a precipitation threshold, at 2050 m in both δ13Cwax and δ13CSOM trends. Above the threshold, δ13Cwax and δ13CSOM increase in a similar pattern of the average species‐level response to altitude reported from various humid mountainous areas. However, a significant decreasing trend with altitude occurs below the threshold, within which climate changes upward from arid to humid, consistent with plant foliar δ13C response to precipitation at water‐limited areas. Because δ13Cwax and δ13CSOM naturally integrate plant species and time, this work demonstrates that the altitude‐induced environmental impact on plant species‐level δ13C has been conveyed to soils, and that the species‐level δ13C could be linearly scaled up to the community level.

show abstract

“…This method has only rarely (e.g. Kelly & Purvis, 1993;Peat & Fitter, 1994;Kelly & Beerling, 1995;Kelly & Woodward, 1995) been applied to plant ecophysiological research, yet it is a powerful tool for understanding the interplay of genetic and ecological controls of plant responses. At one extreme the work investigated here could have been entirely constrained to studies on very closely related species, perhaps with the same common ancestor.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The influence of CO₂concentration on stomatal density

1995

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

SUMMARYA survey of 100 species and 122 observations has shown an average reduction in stomatal density of 14-3% (sE + 2-2 %) with COj enrichment, with 74 % of the cases exhibiting a reduction in stomatal density. A sign test demonstrated that stomatal density decreases, in response to CO^, significantly more often than expected by chance. Repeated observations on the same species indicated a significant repeatability in the direction of the stomatal response. Analyses which removed tbe potential effect of taxonomy on this data set showed no significant patterns in the dependency of the degree of stomatal change on growth form (woodiness vs. non-woodiness; trees vs. shrubs), habitat (cool vs. warm) or stomata] distribution on the leaf (amphi-vs. hypostomatous).Forty-three of the observations had been made in controlled environments and under a typical range in COê nrichment of 350-700 //mol mor'. For these cases the average stomatal density declined by 9"o (SE ± 3-3 %) and 60 "o of the cases showed reductions in stomatal density. When analyses were restricted to these 43 observations, amphistomatous samples more frequently bad greater changes in stomatal density than did hypostomatous samples.The degree of reduction in stomatal density with increasing CO^ increases with initial stomatal density, after the influence of taxonomy is removed using analyses of independent contrasts. When tbe data were examined for patterns that might be due explicitly to the effects of relatedness, the subclasses of the Hamamelidae and the Rosidae showed highly significant reductions in stomatal density with CO^ (87 "o of the species studied in the Hamamelidae and 80",, of the species in tbe Rosidae showed reduction with CO^ enrichment) and correlations between initial stomatal density and degree of reduction in stomatal density. The species sampled in the Hamamelidae were dominantly trees, whereas herbs dominated tbe species in the Rosidae. There were insufficient species studied at lower taxonomic levels to warrant further statistical analyses. This problem results from experimental and observational data being most often restricted to one species per taxonomic level, typically up to the level of order, a feature which can severely limit tbe extraction of taxonomicaliy-related and ecologicallyrelated plant responses.

show abstract

Ecological Correlates of Carbon Isotope Composition of Leaves: A Comparative Analysis Testing for the Effects of Temperature, CO 2 and O 2 Partial Pressures and Taxonomic Relatedness on δ 13 C

Cited by 53 publications

References 19 publications

Global patterns in leaf ¹³ C discrimination and implications for studies of past and future climate

Global patterns in leaf ¹³ C discrimination and implications for studies of past and future climate

Soil n‐alkane δ¹³C along a mountain slope as an integrator of altitude effect on plant species δ¹³C

The influence of CO₂concentration on stomatal density

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Ecological Correlates of Carbon Isotope Composition of Leaves: A Comparative Analysis Testing for the Effects of Temperature, CO 2 and O 2 Partial Pressures and Taxonomic Relatedness on δ 13 C

Cited by 53 publications

References 19 publications

Global patterns in leaf 13 C discrimination and implications for studies of past and future climate

Global patterns in leaf 13 C discrimination and implications for studies of past and future climate

Soil n‐alkane δ13C along a mountain slope as an integrator of altitude effect on plant species δ13C

The influence of CO2concentration on stomatal density

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Global patterns in leaf ¹³ C discrimination and implications for studies of past and future climate

Global patterns in leaf ¹³ C discrimination and implications for studies of past and future climate

Soil n‐alkane δ¹³C along a mountain slope as an integrator of altitude effect on plant species δ¹³C

The influence of CO₂concentration on stomatal density