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Stable isotope composition of water in desert plants

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Abstract

A survey of the stable isotope content of tissue waters of plants from the Negev desert was conducted. Large differences were observed in the extent of enrichment of the heavy isotopes in leaf water relative to local precipitation among different plants. This is apparently caused by the species-dependent stratagems adopted by the plants to cope with water stress, primarily by differences in the depth of water uptake in the soil and through the timing of stomatal openings during the daily cycle. Salt stressed plants showed extreme variability in the isotopic composition of leaf–water. The results show that plants with adaptation to arid conditions can avoid the transpiration regime, which would lead to the strong isotopic enrichment in their leaf water expected under arid conditions. This has implications for the use of stable isotopes in plants as indicators of either plant ecophysiology or paleoclimate.

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Acknowledgement

Support from the GIF (German Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research and Development) and from the Israel Academy of Science is gratefully acknowledged. The complete dataset obtained in this project is available in the final report of the GIF Research project I-125-049-08/89 entitled “Water isotopes in desert plants; an indicator of water usage patterns and a paleoclimatic tool for studying arid zone climate changes in plant proxy materials”, June 1994.

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Author notes

  1. P. Fritz

    Present address: Helmholtz Zentrum für Umweltforschung-UFZ, Permoserstrasse 15, 04813, Leipzig, Germany

  2. I. Gev

    Present address: Water Commission, 14 Hamasger st., Tel Aviv, Israel

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Sciences and Energy Research, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, 76100, Israel

    J. R. Gat, D. Yakir & G. Goodfriend

  2. GSF-Neuherberg, Munich, Germany

    P. Fritz, P. Trimborn & J. Lipp

  3. Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University, Sede Boker Campus, Israel

    I. Gev & E. Adar

  4. Department of Plant Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel

    Y. Waisel

Authors
  1. J. R. Gat
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  2. D. Yakir
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  7. I. Gev
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  8. E. Adar
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to D. Yakir.

Additional information

Responsible Editor: Hans Lambers.

G. Goodfriend is deceased.

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Gat, J.R., Yakir, D., Goodfriend, G. et al. Stable isotope composition of water in desert plants. Plant Soil 298, 31–45 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-007-9321-6

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