Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

How to Interpret Variations in the Carbon Isotope Ratio of Plants: Biologic and Environmental Effects

  • Conference paper
Environmental and Biological Control of Photosynthesis

Abstract

The relative abundance of the carbon isotopes in plants indicates the pathway by which the primary carbon is assimilated. Plants of the C3 and C4-types can be easily distinguished from each other by isotope analysis of tissue of any organ or of most metabolic fractions. Plants of the CAM type behave differently, the isotope composition of different metabolites and different organs may show large variations in the same plant specimen. Results obtained by different authors are compared and discussed on basis of isotope discrimination models attempting to assess how much of the observed variations in the 13C/12C ratio of CAM plants can be due to: 1. variations of environmental parameters as e.g. isotope composition of the atmosphere, and 2. variation in the carbon fixation pathway correlated with environmental parameters (e.g. temperature, illumination, water availability) and biologic parameters (e.g. age).

Work supported in part by the Laboratoire de Géologie Dynamique, Université de Paris VI, and the Laboratoire de Physiologie Cellulaire Végétale, Université de Paris-Sud.

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

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Bender, M.M., I. Rouhani, H.M. Vines & C.C. Black, Jr. (1973): 13C/12C ratio changes in crassulacean acid metabolism plants. Plant Physiol., 52: 437–430.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Black, C.C, Jr. (1973): Photosynthetic carbon fixation in relation to net CO2 uptake. Ann. Rev. Plant Physiol, 24: 253–286.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Craig, H. (1957). Isotopic standards for carbon and oxygen and correction factors for mass-spectrometric analysis of carbon dioxide. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, 12: 133–149.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Deleens, E., J.C. Lerman, A. Nato & A. Moyse (1975): Carbon isotope discrimination by the carboxylating reactions in C3,C4 and CAM plants. Proc. 3rd Internat. Congr. Photosynthesis, Rehovot 2–6 Sept. 1974, (Elsevier Publ. Co., Amsterdam).

    Google Scholar 

  • Epstein, S. (1969). Distribution of carbon isotopes and their biochemical and geochemical significance. In: Forster, R.E., Edsall, J.T., Otis, A.B., & Roughton, F.J.W. (Eds.): Proc. Sympos. on CO2: Chemical, Biochemical, and Physiological Aspects, Haverford, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., August 1968 (NASA SP-188) p. 5-14.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hatch, M.D., C.B. Osmond, J.H. Troughton & O. Björkman, (1972). Physiological and biochemical characteristics of C3 and C4 Atriplex species and hybrids in relation to the evolution of the C4 pathway. Carnegie Inst. Year Book 71, p. 135–141 (Carnegie Inst, Washington, D.C.).

    Google Scholar 

  • Kanai, R., & C.C. Black, Jr. (1972). Biochemical basis for CO2 assimilation in C4-plants. In: Black, C.C. (Ed.): Net Carbon Dioxide Assimilation in Higher Plants, Sympos. South Sect. Amer. Soc. Plant Physiol., pp. 75–93 (Cotton Inc., Raleigh, N.C.).

    Google Scholar 

  • Keeling, C. (1961b): The concentration and isotopic abundances of carbon dioxide in rural and marine air. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, 24: 277–298. Lab. di Geol. Nucl., Pisa).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Keeling, C. (1961b). The concentration and isotopic abundances of carbon dioxide in rural and marine air. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, 24: 277–298.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lerman, J.C. (1972) Carbon-14 dating: Origin and correction of isotope fractionation errors in terrestrial living matter. In: Rafter, T.A. & T. Grant-Taylor (Eds.), Proc. 8th Internat. Conf. on Radiocarbon Dating, p. H 16–H 28 (Royal Soc. New Zealand, Wellington).

    Google Scholar 

  • Lerman, J.C. (1974): Isotope „paleothermometers” on continental matter: Assessment. In: Les Methodes Quantitatives d’Etude des Variations du Climat au Cours du Pleistocene, Coll. Internat. CNRS, No. 219: 163–181.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lerman, J.C. & O. Queiroz (1974). Carbon fixation and isotope discrimination by a crassulacean plant: Dependence on the photoperiod. Science, 183: 1207–1209.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lerman, J.C., E. Deleens, A. Nato & A, Moyse (1974). Variation in the carbon isotope composition of a plant with crassulacean acid metabolism. Plant Physiol., 53: 581–584.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Medawar, P.B. (1967): The Art of the Soluble (Methuen, London) p. 109, cited by Tinbergen, N. (1974): Ethology and stress diseases. Science. 185: 20-27.

    Google Scholar 

  • Medina, E., & J.H. Troughton, (1974): Dark CO2 fixation and the carbon isotope ratio in Bromeliaceae.Plant. Sci. Lett., 2: 357–362.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Osmond, C.B., W.G. Allaway, B.G. Sutton, J.H. Troughton, O. Queiroz, U. Liittge & K. Winter (1973): Carbon isotope discrimination in photosynthesis of CAM plants. Nature, 246: 41–42.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Park, R & S. Epstein, (1960): Carbon isotope fractionation during photosynthesis. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, 21: 110–126.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Park R. & S. Epstein (1961): Metabolic fractionation of C13 and C12 in plants. Plant Physiol., 36: 133–138.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Raven, J.A.(1970). Exogenous inorganic carbon sources in plant photosynthesis. Biol. Rev.., 45: 167–221.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rouhani, I. (1972): Pathways of carbon metabolism in spongy mesophyll cells, isolated from Sedum telephium leaves, and their relationship to crassulacean acid metabolism plants. Ph. D. Diss. University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia. (University Microfilms, Ann Arbor, Michigan. No. 72-34, 140: 169 pp.).

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, B.N. & S. Epstein (1971): Two categories of 13C/12C ratios for higher plants. Plant Physiol., 47: 380–384.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ting, I.P., H.B. Johnson & S.R. Szarek (1972): Net CO2 fixation in crassulacean acid metabolism plants. In: Black, C.C. (Ed.): Net Carbon Dioxide Assimilation in Higher Plants, Sympos. South. Sect. Amer. Soc. Plant PhysioL, p. 26–53 (Cotton Inc., Raleigh, N.C.).

    Google Scholar 

  • Tregunna, E.B., B.N. Smith, J.A. Berry & W.J.S. Downton, (1969): Some methods for studying the photosynthetic taxonomy of the angiosperms. Can. J. Bot., 48: 1209–1214

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whelan, T., W.M. Sackett & C.R. Benedict (1970): Carbon isotope discrimination in a plant possessing the C4 dicarboxylic acid pathway. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 41: 1205–1210.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Whelan, T., 111(1971): Stable carbon isotope fractionation in photosynthetic carbon metabolism. Ph.D. Diss.Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas (University Microfilms, Ann Arbor, Michigan, No. 72-13, 258: 93 pp.).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre des Faibles Radioactivités, Laboratoire Mixte CNRS-CEA, 91190, Gif-sur-Yvette, France

    J. C. Lerman

Authors
  1. J. C. Lerman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Plant Physiology, Research Station of Gorsem, Sint-Truiden, Belgium

    R. Marcelle

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 1975 Dr. W. Junk b.v., Publishers, The Hague

About this paper

Cite this paper

Lerman, J.C. (1975). How to Interpret Variations in the Carbon Isotope Ratio of Plants: Biologic and Environmental Effects. In: Marcelle, R. (eds) Environmental and Biological Control of Photosynthesis. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-1957-6_32

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-1957-6_32

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-90-6193-179-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-010-1957-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation