Relationship between climatic conditions and the relative abundance of modern C_3 and C_4 plants in three regions around the North Pacific  

作　　者：RAO ZhiGuo ZHU ZhaoYu JIA GuoDong CHEN FaHu BARTON Loukas ZHANG JiaWu QIANG MingRui 

机构地区：[1]Key Laboratory of Marginal Sea Geology, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China [2]Key Laboratory of Western China's Environment Systems (Ministry of Education), Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China [3]Department of Anthropology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA [4]Katmai National Park and Preserve, King Salmon, AK 99613, USA

出　　处：《Chinese Science Bulletin》2010年第18期1931-1936,共6页

基　　金：supported by the Key Project of Chinese Ministry of Education (109151);the National Natural Science Foundation of China (40672121 and 40872111);the NSFC National Innovative Research Team Project (40721061)

摘　　要：Using -24‰ and -14‰ as the endpoints of stable carbon isotopic composition of total organic carbon (δ 13CTOC) of surface soil under pure C3 and C4 vegetation, and surface soil δ 13CTOC data from eastern China, Australia and the Great Plains of North America, we estimate the relative abundance of C3/C4 plants (i.e., the ratio of C3 or C4 biomass to local primary production) in modern vegetation for each region. The relative abundance of modern C3/C4 vegetation from each region is compared to the corresponding climatic parameters (mean annual temperature and precipitation) to explore the relationship between relative C4 abundance and climate. The results indicate that temperature controls the growth of C4 plants. However, even where temperature is high enough for the growth of C4 plants, they will only dominate the landscape when precipitation declines as temperatures increase. Our results are consistent with those of other investigations of the geographic distribution of modern C4 plant species. Therefore, our results provide an important reference for interpretation of past C3/C4 relative abundance records in these three regions.Using -24‰ and -14‰ as the endpoints of stable carbon isotopic composition of total organic carbon （δ13CToc） of surface soil under pure C3 and C4 vegetation, and surface soil δ13CToc data from eastern China, Australia and the Great Plains of North Amer- ica, we estimate the relative abundance of C3/C4 plants （i.e., the ratio of C3 or Ca biomass to local primary production） in modern vegetation for each region. The relative abundance of modern C3/C4 vegetation from each region is compared to the corresponding climatic parameters （mean annual temperature and precipitation） to explore the relationship between relative Ca abundance and climate. The results indicate that temperature controls the growth of Ca plants. However, even where temperature is high enough for the growth of C4 plants, they will only dominate the landscape when precipitation declines as temperatures increase. Our results are consistent with those of other investigations of the geographic distribution of modern C4 plant species. Therefore, our results provide an important reference for interpretation of past C3/C4 relative abundance records in these three regions.

关 键 词：相对丰度 C4植物 气候条件 周围地区 北太平洋 表层土壤 植物生长 温度控制 

分 类 号：Q948[生物学—植物学]