Keel, Sonja G.
- Department of Forest Ecology and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Keel SG, Siegwolf RTW, Jaggi M, Korner C
Stable C isotope signals in plant tissues became a key tool in explaining growth responses to the environment. The technique is based on the fundamental assumption that the isotopic composition of a given unit of tissue (e.g. a tree ring) reflects the specific C uptake conditions in the leaf at a given time. Beyond the methodological implications of any deviation from this assumption, it is of physiological interest whether new C is transferred directly from sources (a photosynthesizing leaf) to structural sinks (e.g. adjacent stem tissue), or inherently passes through existing (mobile) C pools, which may be of variable (older) age. Here, we explore the fate of C-13-labelled photosynthates in the crowns of a 30-35 m tall, mixed forest using a canopy crane. In all nine study species labelled C reached woody tissue within 2-9 h after labelling. Four months later, very small signals were left in branch wood of Tilia suggesting that low mixing of new, labelled C with old C had taken place. In contrast, signals in Fagus and Quercus had increased, indicating more intense mixing. This species-specific mixing of new with old C pools is likely to mask year- or season-specific linkages between tree ring formation and climate and has considerable implications for climate reconstruction using stable isotopes as proxies for past climatic conditions
Plant, Cell and Environment
2007, Volume: 30, number: 8, pages: 963-972
Publisher: BLACKWELL PUBLISHING
Environmental Sciences related to Agriculture and Land-use
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3040.2007.01688.x
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/15231