| TITLE |
Contribution of Miscanthus transmorrisonensis to soil organic carbon in a mountain grassland: Estimated from stable carbon isotope ratio |
| AUTHOR |
Wen-Yuan Kao
Institute of Botany, Academia Sinica, Nankang, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China |
| FULL TEXT |
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| ABSTRACT |
To estimate the contribution of Miscanthus transmorrisonensis to soil organic matter in a high mountain grassland at Tartarchia Anpu (altitude of 2,600 m) in Taiwan, I analyzed the stable carbon isotope ratios (d13C) of dominant plant species and soil organic matter. The d13C analysis reveals that among the five dominant plant species M. transmorrisonensis (d13C of -12.37‰) is the only species that uses C4 photosynthetic pathway. In contrast, the d13C values of other plants species ranged from -29.21 to -23.3 ‰ (average of -26.25‰), typical values for terrestrial plants with C3 photosynthetic pathway. The average d 13C value of soil samples collected from ten locations over the grassland was -18.56 ± 0.36 ‰ again indicating that the vegetation contains a mixture of C3 and C4 type plants. Using two-end member linear mixing models, I then estimated that about 55% of soil organic carbon in this grassland came from M. transmorrisonensis. |
| KEYWORD |
C3 and C4 photosynthetic pathways; Grassland; Miscanthus transmorrisonensis; Soil organic carbon; Stable carbon isotopes; |
| ARTICLE INFO |
Botanical Bulletin of Academia Sinica, Volume 38 Number 1 January 1997, page 45-48, 4 pages |
| PUBLISHER |
Institute of Plant and Microbial Biology, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China |
