Summary
In this paper we make comparisons between the observed oxygen and hydrogen stable isotope composition of leaf water and the predictions of the Craig-Gordon model of evaporative isotopic enrichment. Comparisons were made among two C3 species (Chenopodium album and Helianthus annuus) and two C4 species (Amaranthus retroflexus and Kochia scoparia), when plants were exposed to natural environmental conditions in the field. There were significant differences among the species for the hydrogen and oxygen isotopic composition of leaf water at mid-day. The Amaranthus and Helianthus plants had lower leaf water δD and δ18O values than did Kochia and Chenopodium. The observed leaf water δ values were significantly lower than those predicted by the evaporative enrichment model for all the species. The degree of discrepancy between the observed and modelled leaf water isotopic compositions differed among species. There was a strong linear relationship between the oxygen and hydrogen isotopic compositions of stem water, observed leaf water and the modelled leaf water for all species. The observed leaf water isotopic composition for the different species occurred at different points along the line connecting the stem water isotopic composition and the modelled leaf water isotopic composition in a plot of δD and δ18O. We interpret these linear relationships as mixing lines between the unfractionated source or stem water isotopic composition and the isotopic composition of water at the evaporation sites within leaves (as defined by the evaporative enrichment model).
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Albinger G (1987) SigmaScan, the measurement program. Version 3.0. Jandel Scientific. Sausalito, California
Allison GB, Gat JR, Leaney FWJ (1985) The relationship between deuterium and oxygen-18 delta values in leaf water. Chemical Geology 58:145–156
Bariac T, Rambal S, Jusserand C, Berger A (1989) Evaluating water fluxes of field-grown alfalfa from diurnal observations of natural isotope concentrations, energy budget and ecophysiological parameters. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 48:263–283
Coleman ML, Shepard TJ, Durham JJ, Rouse JE, Moore GR (1982) Reduction of water with zinc for hydrogen isotope analysis. Analytical Chemistry 54:993–995
Craig H, Gordon LI (1965) Deuterium and oxygen-18 variations in the ocean and the marine atmosphere. In E Tongiorgi, ed, Proceedings of a Conference on Stable Isotopes in Oceanographic Studies and Paleotemperatures, Spoleto, Italy. Lischi and Figli, Pisa, pp 9–130
DeNiro MJ, Cooper LW (1989) Post-photosynthetic modification of oxygen isotope ratios of carbohydrates in the potato: implications for paleoclimatic reconstruction based upon isotopic analysis of wood cellulose. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 53:2573–2580
Dongmann G, Nürnberg HW, Förstel H, Wagner K (1974) On the enrichment of H2 18O in the leaves of transpiring plants. Radiation and Environmental Biophysics 11:41–52
Edwards TWD, Fritz P (1986) Assessing meteoric water composition and relative humidity from 18O and 2H in wood cellulose: paleoclimatic implications for southern Ontario, Canada. Applied Geochemistry 1:715–723
Edwards TWD, Fritz P (1988) Stable-isotope paleoclimate records for southern Ontario, Canada: comparison of results from marl and wood. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 25:1397–1406
Ehleringer JR, Osmond CB (1989) Stable isotopes. In RW Pearcy, JR Ehleringer, HA Mooney, PW Rundel, eds, Plant Physiological Ecology. Field Methods and Instrumentation. Chapman and Hall, London, pp 281–300
Farquhar GD, Hubick KT, Condon AG, Richards RA (1988) Carbon isotope fractionation and plant water-use efficiency. In PW Rundel, JR Ehleringer, KA Nagy, eds, Stable Isotopes in Ecological Research. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, pp 21–40
Farquhar GD, Ehleringer JR, Hubick KT (1989) Carbon isotope discrimination and photosynthesis. Annual Review of Plant Physiology and Plant Molecular Biology 40:503–537
Flanagan LB, Ehleringer JR (1991) Stable isotope composition of stem and leaf water: Applications to the study of plant wateruse. Functional Ecology 5:270–277
Flanagan LB, Comstock JP, Ehleringer JR (1991) Comparison of modelled and observed environmental influences on the stable oxygen and hydrogen isotope composition of leaf water in Phaseolus vulgaris L. Plant Physiology 96:588–596
Lawrence JR, White JWC (1984) Growing season precipitation from D/H ratios of Eastern White Pine. Nature 311:558–560
Leaney FW, Osmond CB, Allison GB, Ziegler H (1985) Hydrogenisotope composition of leaf water in C3 and C4 plants: its relationship to the hydrogen-isotope composition of dry matter. Planta 164:215–220
Majoube M (1971) Fractionnement en oxygene-18 et en deuterium entre l'eau et sa vapeur. Journal de Chimie et Physique 58:1423–1436
Merlivat L (1978) Molecular diffusivities of H2 18O in gases. Journal of Chemical Physics 69:2864–2871
O'Leary MH (1988) Carbon isotopes in photosynthesis. BioScience 38:328–336
Parkhurst D (1982) Stereological methods for measuring internal leaf structure variables. American Journal of Botany 69:31–39
Smith BN, Ziegler H (1990) Isotopic fractionation of hydrogen in plants. Botanica Acta 103:335–342
Sokal RR, Rohlf FJ (1981) Biometry, 2nd edition, Freeman, New York
Sternberg LSL (1988) Oxygen and hydrogen isotope ratios in plant cellulose: Mechanisms and applications. In PW Rundel, JR Ehleringer, KA Nagy, eds, Stable Isotopes in Ecological Research. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, pp 124–141
Sternberg LSL, Mulkey SS, Wright SJ (1989) Oxygen isotope ratio stratification in a tropical moist forest. Oecologia 81:51–56
Walker CD, Brunel JP (1990) Examining evapotranspiration in a semi-arid region using stable isotopes of hydrogen and oxygen. Journal of Hydrology 118:55–75
Walker CD, Leaney FW, Dighton JC, Allison GB (1989) The influence of transpiration on the equilibrium of leaf water with atmospheric water vapour. Plant, Cell and Environment 12:221–234
White JWC (1983) The climatic significance of D/H ratios in White Pine in the northeastern United States. PhD Thesis. Columbia University, New York
White JWC (1988) Stable hydrogen isotope ratios in plants: A review of current theory and some potential applications. In PW Pundel, JR Ehleringer, KA Nagy, eds, Stable Isotopes in Ecological Research. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, pp 142–162
Wong WW, Lee LS, Klein PD (1987) Oxygen isotope ratio measurements on carbon dioxide generated by reaction of microliter quantities of biological fluids with guanidine hydrochloride. Analytical Chemistry 59:690–693
Yakir D (1991) Water compartmentation in plant tissue: isotopic evidence. In CB Osmond ed, Water and Life: Comparative Analysis of Water Relationships at the Organismic, Cellular and Molecular Levels. in press
Yakir D, DeNiro MJ (1990) Oxygen and hydrogen isotope fractionation during cellulose metabolism in Lemna gibba L. Plant Physiology 93:325–332
Yakir D, DeNiro MJ, Gat JR (1990) Natural deuterium and oxygen-18 enrichment in leaf water of cotton plants grown under wet and dry conditions: evidence for water compartmentation and its dynamics. Plant, Cell and Environment 13:49–56
Ziegler H (1988) Hydrogen isotope fractionation in plant tissues. In PW Rundel, JR Ehleringer, KA Nagy, eds, Stable Isotopes in Ecological Research. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, pp 105–123
Zundel G, Miekeley W, Grisi BM, Forstel H (1978) The H2 18O enrichment in the leaf water of tropic trees: comparison of species from the tropical rain forest and the semi-arid region of Brazil. Radiation and Environmental Biophysics 15:203–212
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Flanagan, L.B., Bain, J.F. & Ehleringer, J.R. Stable oxygen and hydrogen isotope composition of leaf water in C3 and C4 plant species under field conditions. Oecologia 88, 394–400 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00317584
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00317584