European plants with C4 photosynthesis: geographical and taxonomic distribution and relations to climate parameters

Abstract

A survey of C4 plants in Europe was performed with 216 species based on information in the literature and new studies. C4 species were found in 10 families: the eudicots Amaranthaceae, Chenopodiaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Molluginaceae, Nyctaginaceae, Polygonaceae, Portulacaceae and Zygophyllaceae and the monocots Cyperaceae and Poaceae. The majority of the C4 species belong to four families, Amaranthaceae (23), Chenopodiaceae (65), Cyperaceae (27) and Poaceae (88). In central and southern Europe, the abundance of native C4 plants varied between 44 and 88% of total C4 plants occurring, the rest being invasive C4 species. The occurrence of total C4 species, C4 monocots and C4 Chenopodiaceae was assessed for five major phyto-geographical regions of Europe (north-west, north-east, central, south-west, and south-east). The abundance of C4 plants of total C4 dicots, C4 Chenopodiaceae, total C4 monocots, C4 Poaceae and C4 Cyperaceae was related to the climatic variables of annual mean daily temperature, annual precipitation and DeMartonne's aridity index. The abundance of total C4 plants decreases with increasing temperature and expression of aridity (decreasing aridity index) and is not correlated with precipitation. The abundance of total C4 dicots and C4 Chenopodiaceae is correlated with precipitation and aridity but not temperature, whereas the abundance of total C4 monocots, C4 Poaceae and C4 Cyperaceae is correlated with temperature and aridity but not precipitation.

A new regional, mid-Holocene palaeoprecipitation signal of the Asian Summer Monsoon

“…As a result C 4 plants generally increase in relative abundance as precipitation in a region decreases (Kristen et al, 2010;Pyankov et al, 2010;Wang, 2002), and this has been recorded in regions influenced by the Asian monsoon (Liu and Huang, 2005). Due to their high δ 13 C values relative to those of C 3 plants, an increase in C 4 plants can also significantly (up to 6‰) enrich the bulk and leaf wax δ 13 C signature of soils and sediments (Ding and Yang, 2000;Lichtfouse et al, 1994;Liu and Huang, 2005;Mo et al, 2004).…”

Paleoclimate in continental northwestern Europe during the Eemian and early Weichselian (125–97 ka): insights from a Belgian speleothem

“…However, a higher abundance of grasses does not necessarily result in an increased amount of C4 vegetation. First of all, C4 species only make up ∼ 1 % of the total amount of vascular plant species in northwestern Europe today (Pyankov et al, 2010). Secondly, C4 species dominantly occur in a warmer, tropical climate (Ehleringer et al, 1997).…”

Excursions to C<sub>4</sub> vegetation recorded in the Upper Pleistocene loess of Surduk (Northern Serbia): an organic isotope geochemistry study

“…This implies a region covered by plants with a carbon C 3 fixation pathway. Less than 2 % of vascular plants in southeast Europe are C 4 plants (Pyankov et al, 2010).…”

“…Based on physiological studies and on niche theory (Austin, 1985), C 4 plants expand when C 3 plants disappear . Pyankov et al (2010) explicitly described the C 4 taxonomic distribution in Europe and its relation to climatic parameters.…”