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  • 1
    Electronic Resource
    Electronic Resource
    Springer
    Oecologia 74 (1988), S. 623-632 
    ISSN: 1432-1939
    Keywords: Photosynthesis ; δ 13C ; Alpine ecology ; Atmospheric CO2
    Source: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Topics: Biology
    Notes: Summary Carbon 13/12 isotope ratios have been determined from leaves of a hundred C3 plant species (or ecotypes) from all major mountain ranges of the globe, avoiding drought stressed areas. A general increase in 13C content was found with increasing altitude, i.e. overall discrimination against the heavy isotope is reduced at high elevation. The steepest decline of discrimination is observed in taxa typically ranging to highest elevations (e.g. the genus Ranunculus). Mean δ 13C for all samples collected between 2500 and 5600 m altitude is-26.15‰ compared to the lowland average of-28.80‰ (P〈0.001). Forbs from highest elevations reach-24‰. According to theory of 13C discrimination this indicates decreasing relative limitation of carbon uptake by carboxylation. In other words, we estimate that the ratio of internal to external partial pressure of CO2 (p i /p a )in leaves of high elevation plants is lower than in leaves of low altitude. These results confirm recent gas exchange analyses in high and low elevation plants.
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  • 2
    Electronic Resource
    Electronic Resource
    Springer
    Oecologia 88 (1991), S. 30-40 
    ISSN: 1432-1939
    Keywords: Alpine ecology ; CO2 ; Climate ; δ13C ; Leaf structure ; Oxygen ; Photosynthesis ; Temperature
    Source: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Topics: Biology
    Notes: Summary In an earlier paper we provided evidence that carbon isotope discrimination during photosynthesis of terrestrial C3 plants decreases with altitude, and it was found that this was associated with greater carboxylation efficiency at high altitudes. Changing partial pressures of CO2 and O2 and changing temperature are possible explanations, since influences of moisture and light were reduced to a minimum by selective sampling. Here we analyse plants sampled using the same criteria, but from high and low altitudes along latitudinal gradients from the equator to the polar ends of plant distribution. These data should permit separation of the pressure and temperature components (Fig. 1). Only leaves of fully sunlit, non-water-stressed, herbaceous C3 plants are compared. The survey covers pressure differences of 400 mbar (ca. 5000 m) and 78 degrees of latitude (ca 25 K of mean temperature of growth period). When habitats of similar low temperature (i.e. high altitude at low latitude and low altitude at polar latitude) are compared, discrimination increases towards the pole (with decreasing altitude and thus increasing atmospheric pressure). Latitudinally decreasing temperature at almost constant atmospheric pressure (samples from low altitude) is associated with a decrease in discrimination. So, polar low-altitude plants have δ13C values half way between humid tropical lowland and tropical alpine plants. It is unlikely that latitudinal changes of the light regime had an effect, since low and high altitude plants show contrasting latitudinal trends in δ13C although local altitudinal differences in overall light consumption were small. These results suggest that both temperature and atmospheric pressure are responsible for the altitudinal trends in 13C discrimination. Temperature effects may partly be related to increased leaf thickness (within the same leaf type) in cold environments. Theoretical considerations and laboratory experiments suggest that it is the oxygen partial pressure that is responsible for the pressure related change in discrimination. The study also provided results of practical significance for the use of carbon isotope data. Within a community of C3 plants, discrimination in species of similar life form, exposed to similar light, water and ambient CO2 conditions ranges over 4‰, with standard deviations for 10–30 species of ±0.6 to 1.2‰. This natural variation has to be taken into account by using a sufficient sample size and standardization of sampling in any attempt at ecological site characterization using carbon isotope data. Evidence of a pronounced genotypic component of this variation in 13C discrimination in wild C3 plant species is provided. Correlations with dry matter partitioning, mesophyll thickness and nitrogen content are also present.
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  • 3
    Electronic Resource
    Electronic Resource
    Springer
    Oecologia 81 (1989), S. 379-391 
    ISSN: 1432-1939
    Keywords: Nitrogen ; Specific leaf area ; Partitioning ; Life form ; Photosynthesis
    Source: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Topics: Biology
    Notes: Summary Are plants at high altitudes short in nutrients? In order to answer this question the mineral nutrient content of leaves from over 150 plant species from 9 different mountain areas of all major climatic zones were analyzed (Kjeldahl nitrogen in all, phosphate in half of the samples, K, Mg, Mn, Ca in the Alps only). The majority of data are from herbaceous perennials, but shrubs and trees were studied as well. N-partitioning was studied in 45 herbaceous species from contrasting altitudes in the Alps. The survey falls into three categories: (1) comparisons of whole communities of species from contrasting altitudes, (2) analysis of altitudinal gradients, and (3) additional collections from high altitude sites alone. Unlike the other mineral nutrients, nitrogen content follows consistent altitudinal and latitudinal trends. The higher altitude sample always had higher N content per unit leaf area, irrespective of life form, wherever comparable plants (the same or related species) were investigated at contrasting altitudes. N content per unit dry weight (%) increased with altitude in herbaceous plants (in some species 〉4%), but was remarkably stable in evergreen woody plants (around 1%). The mean fraction of total plant N allocated to leaves of herbaceous plants in the Alps was the same at low and high altitude (1/3 of total). Leaf N (%) from the regional upper limits of higher plant life reveals a latitudinal decrease from subarctic to equatorial mountains, which may be related to the duration of annual leaf activity. Since mean N content per leaf area hardly differs between the uppermost sites, life span expectation (sink-duration) seems to control carbon investments rather than N input per leaf area. The growth of leaves at high altitude seems to be controlled in a way that leads to comparatively high nutrient contents, which in turn support high metabolic activity. Inherent developmental growth constraints inhibit nutrient dilution in the plant body and thus defy the application of classical concepts of plant-nutrient versus soil-nutrient relations developed for lowlands and in particular for cultivated plants. The results re-emphasize the global significance of links between nitrogen content, leaf sclerophylly, leaf longevity and photosynthetic capacity.
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  • 4
    ISSN: 1432-1939
    Keywords: Altitude ; Longevity ; Nitrogen ; Photosynthesis ; Specific leaf area
    Source: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Topics: Biology
    Notes: Summary Leaf longevity in 29 herbaceous plant species of Central Europe was studied by inspecting tagged leaves at weekly intervals. About half of the species are elements of the lowland meadow flora, the other half comprises a representative sample of species from the highest sites where vascular plants grow in the Alps. Shaded and water-stressed sites were avoided. Overall mean leaf longevity did not differ significantly between sites and amounted to 71±5 days at low and 68±4 days at high altitude. Leaf life spans ranged (with no clear altitudinal trend) from 41 to 95 days. Low-altitude forbs and grasses produced several leaf cohorts during their growth period, while most alpine species produced only one. Correlations were found between leaf duration and percent nitrogen content and carbon-cost/carbon-gain ratios, but not with leaf dry mass per unit leaf area and photosynthetic capacity alone. As leaf life spans increase, more C tends to be invested per unit CO2 uptake and less N is invested per unit invested C. Thus, mass relationships rather than area relationships seem to be linked to leaf life span in these species, suggesting that leaf duration is associated with properties other than the efficiency of light utilization (e.g. mechanical strength, herbivory or pathogen resistance). It seems that the explanations of leaf duration that have been developed for evergreen/deciduous plants and for plants along steep light gradients do not apply to the variable life spans in leaves of perennial herbaceous plants of open habitats.
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