Skip to main content
Log in

Carbon isotope composition in landscape components and its changes under different ecological conditions

  • Ecology
  • Published:
Biology Bulletin Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The composition of stable carbon isotopes in plants, plant litter, leaf litter, and soil organic matter was studied experimentally in the western part of the northern foothills of the Caucasus and mountainsides. It was found that the changes in carbon isotope composition depending on the vertical zonation do not exceed 8‰ and depend on the type of C3 plant communities, its presence in biogeocenosis components (living matter, plant litter, soil organic matter), and the degree of moistening of the plot studied.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Andreeva, D.B., Zech, M., Glaser, B., Erbajeva, M.A., Chimitdorgieva, G.D., Ermakova, O.D., and Zech, W., Stable isotope (d13C, d15N, d18O) record of soils in Buryatia, southern Siberia: implications for biogeochemical and paleoclimatic interpretations, Quat. Intern., 2013, vols. 290–291, pp. 82–94.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Atlas Respubliki Adygeya (Atlas of the Republic of Adygea), Maikop: Tsentr Geoinformatsionnykh Tekhnologii Adygeisk. Univ., 2005.

  • Balesdent, J., Estimation du renouvellement du carbone des sols par mesure isotopique 13C. Précision, risque de biais, Cah. Orstom, Sér. Pédol., 1991, vol. XXVI, no. 4, pp. 315–326.

    Google Scholar 

  • Balesdent, J. and Mariotti, A., Measurements of soil organic matter turnover using 13C natural abundance, in Mass Spectrometry of Soils, New York: Marcel Dekker, 1996, pp. 83–111.

    Google Scholar 

  • Biggs, T.H., Quade, J., and Webb, R.H., d13C values of soil organic matter in semiarid grassland with mesquite (Prosopis) encroachment in southern Arizona, Geoderma, 2002, vol. 110, pp. 109–130.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Boutton, T.W., Stable carbon isotope ratios of soil organic matter and their use as indicators of vegetation and climate change, in Mass Spectrometry of Soils, Boutton, T.W. and Yamasaki, S.I., Eds., New York: Marcel Dekker, 1996, pp. 47–82.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boutton, T.W., Harrison, A.T., and Smith, B.N., Distribution of biomass of species differing by photosynthetic pathway along an altitudinal transect in southeastern wyoming grassland, Oecologia, 1980, vol. 45, pp. 287–298.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boutton, T.W., Archer, S.R., Midwood, A.J., Zitzer, S.F., and Bol, R., d13C values of soil organic carbon and their use in documenting vegetation change in a subtropical savanna ecosystem, Geoderma, 1998, vol. 82, pp. 5–41.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Deiness, P., The Isotopic Composition of Reduced Organic Carbon. Handbook of Environmental Isotope Geochemistry, Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1980, vol. 1.

    Google Scholar 

  • Farquhar, G.D., Ehleringer, J.R., and Hubick, K.T., Carbon isotope discrimination and photosynthesis, Ann. Rev. Plant Physiol. Plant. Mol. Biol., 1989, vol. 40, pp. 503–537.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Klassifikatsiya i diagnostika pochv (Classification and Diagnosis of Soil), Moscow: Kolos, 1977.

  • Kovda, I., Chichagova, O., and Mora, C., Organic matter in a gilgai soil complex, southeastern Russia: chemical and isotopic compositions, in Advances in Geoecology, Faz Cano, A., Ortiz, R., and Mermut, A.R, Eds., Sustainable Use and Management of Soils—Arid and Semiarid Regions, 2005, vol. 36, pp. 45–56.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kovda, I., Morgun, E., and Gongalsky, K., Stable isotopic composition of carbonate pedofeatures in soils across the transect, south of the European part of Russia, Catena, 2014, vol. 112, pp. 56–64.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Melillo, J.M., Aber, J.D., Linkins, A.E., Ricca, A., Fry, B., and Nadelhoffer, K.J., Carbon and nitrogen dynamics along the decay continuum: plant litter to soil organic matter, Plant Soil, 1989, pp. 189–198.

    Google Scholar 

  • Minderman, G., Addition, decomposition and accumulation of organic matter in forests, J. Ecol., 1968, vol. 56, pp. 355–362.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Novara, A., Gristina, L., La Manita, T., and Ruhl, J,. Soil carbon dynamics during secondary succession in a semiarid Mediterranean environment, Biogeosci. Discuss., 2011, vol. 8, pp. 11107–11138.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spravochnik po klimatu SSSR (USSR Climate Handbook), Leningrad: Gidrometeoizdat, 1966, vol. 13, part 2.

  • Spravochnik po klimatu SSSR (USSR Climate Handbook), Leningrad: Gidrometeoizdat, 1968, vol. 13, part 4.

  • Stevenson, F.J., Cycles of Soil: Carbon, Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Sulfur, Micronutrients, New York: Wiley, 1986.

    Google Scholar 

  • Teeri, J.A. and Stowe, L.G., Climatic patterns and the distribution of C4 grasses in North America, Ecology, 1976, vol. 23, pp. 1–12.

    Google Scholar 

  • Teoriya i praktika khimicheskogo analiza pochv (Theory and Practice of Chemical Analysis of Soil), Vorob’eva, L.A., Ed., Moscow: GEOS, 2006.

  • Torn, M.S., Lapenis, A.G., Timofeev, A., Fischer, M.L., Babikov, B.V., and Harden, J.W., Organic carbon and carbon isotopes in modern and 100-year-old-soil archives of the Russian steppe, Glob. Change Biol., 2002, vol. 8, pp. 941–953.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wedin, D.A., Tieszen, L.L., Dewey, B., and Pastor, J., Carbon isotope dynamics during grass decomposition and soil organic matter formation, Ecology, 1995, vol. 76, pp. 1383–1392.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zernov, A.S., Flora severo-zapadnogo Kavkaza (Flora of Northwest Caucasus), Moscow: Izd. KMK, 2006.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to I. V. Kovda.

Additional information

Original Russian Text © I.V. Kovda, E.G. Morgun, K.B. Gongalskii, S.A. Balandin, A.I. Erokhina, 2016, published in Izvestiya Akademii Nauk, Seriya Biologicheskaya, 2016, No. 2, pp. 216–224.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Kovda, I.V., Morgun, E.G., Gongalskii, K.B. et al. Carbon isotope composition in landscape components and its changes under different ecological conditions. Biol Bull Russ Acad Sci 43, 177–184 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1062359016010088

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S1062359016010088

Keywords

Navigation