A new method of searching for concealed Au deposits by using the spectrum of arid desert plant species

Abstract. A longstanding puzzle in isotope studies of C3 plant species is that heterotrophic plant organs (e.g., stems, roots, seeds, and fruits) tend to be enriched in 13C compared to the autotrophic organ (leaves) that provides them with photosynthate. Our inability to explain this puzzle suggests key deficiencies in understanding post-photosynthetic metabolic processes. It also limits the effectiveness of applications of stable carbon isotope analyses in a variety of scientific disciplines ranging from plant physiology to global carbon cycle studies. To gain insight into this puzzle, we excavated whole plant architectures of Nitraria tangutorum Bobrov, a C3 species that has an exceptional capability of fixing sands and building sand dunes, in two deserts in northwestern China. We systematically and simultaneously measured carbon isotope ratios and nitrogen and phosphorous contents of different parts of the excavated plants. We also determined the seasonal variations in leaf carbon isotope ratios on nearby intact plants of N. tangutorum. We found, for the first time, that higher nitrogen contents in heterotrophic organs were significantly correlated with increased heterotrophic 13C enrichment compared to leaves. However, phosphorous contents had no effect on the enrichment. In addition, new leaves had carbon isotope ratios similar to roots but were progressively depleted in 13C as they matured. We concluded that a nitrogen-mediated process, probably the refixation of respiratory CO2 by phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) carboxylase, was responsible for the differences in 13C enrichment among different heterotrophic organs while processes within leaves or during phloem loading may contribute to the overall autotrophic – heterotrophic difference in carbon isotope compositions.

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Discriminatory power of rbcL barcode locus for authentication of some of United Arab Emirates (UAE) native plants

10.31221/osf.io/ym9w8 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Mohammed H Jarrar

Keyword(s):

Plant Species ◽

United Arab Emirates ◽

Native Plants ◽

Discriminatory Power ◽

Wild Plant ◽

Morphological Identification ◽

Desert Plant ◽

Simple Method ◽

Scientific Value ◽

Species Being

DNA barcoding of United Arab Emirates (UAE) native plants is of high practical and scientiﬁc value as the plants adapt to very harsh environmental conditions that challenge their identiﬁcation. Fifty-one plant species belonged to 22 families, 2 monocots, and 20 eudicots; a maximum number of species being legumes and grasses were collected. To authenticate the morphological identiﬁcation of the wild plant taxa, rbcL and matK regions were used in the study. The primer universality and discriminatory power of rbcL is 100%, while it is 35% for matK locus for these plant species. The sequences were submitted to GenBank; accession numbers were obtained for all the rbcL sequences and for 6 of matK sequences. We suggest rbcL as a promising barcode locus for the tested group of 51 plants. In the present study, an inexpensive, simple method of identiﬁcation of rare desert plant taxa through rbcL barcode is being reported.

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EFFECT OF STEAM STERILIZATION OF SOIL ON TWO DESERT PLANT SPECIES.

10.2172/4596298 ◽

1972 ◽

Author(s):

A. Wallace ◽

E.F. Frolich ◽

G.V. Alexander

Keyword(s):

Plant Species ◽

Desert Plant ◽

Steam Sterilization

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Investigations on the Concentrations of K, Na Ca, Fe and P in Cymomorium from the Gobi Arid Desert Ecosystem, North-Western China

Advanced Materials Research ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/amr.518-523.4521 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 518-523 ◽

pp. 4521-4531

Author(s):

Wei Xuan Fang

Keyword(s):

Plant Species ◽

Western China ◽

Desert Ecosystem ◽

Indigenous Species ◽

Arid Environments ◽

Resistant Plant ◽

Dry Land ◽

Iron Mine ◽

Arid Desert ◽

Oasis Ecosystem

Investigations on macronutrients (K, Na, Ca, Mg and P) and micronutrients (Fe) in windy sand- and salt-resistant plant species such as Cymomorium can help us to get a better understand their behaviours of ecologically environment geochemistry in the Gobi arid desert ecosystem. This study presents our investigations on the concentrations of K, Na Ca, Mg, Fe and P in xerophilous, sabulicolous, superhalophilous Cymomorium from the oasis ecosystem in the Beishan-Tianshan Gobi arid desert, northwestern China. The mean concentrations of macronutrients (K, Na, Ca, Mg and P) in Cymomorium Songaricum Rupr. are, respectively, 1.29±0.29 % K, 2.45±1.08 % Na, 2966±2038 μg g–1 Ca, 2038±1746 μg g–1Mg and 1462±457 μg g–1P. Although the average concentrations of Fe concentrations (341±361 μg g–1) is within the normal range of Fe in plant species, the maximum Fe concentrations (1400 μg g-1) were detected in Cymomorium stemmed from the sandy lowland around the Shaquanzi iron mine of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in China. It suggested that the indigenous species of Cymomorium might be one of the appropriate xerohalophyte species to restore the vegetation of the oasis, saline land use for agriculture or arid environments destroyed by mining activities in the dry land because it may have higher ability to accumulate K, Na, Ca, Mg, Fe and P from saline soils, and it belongs to the native salt-resistant plant species.

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Nitrogen control of <sup>13</sup>C enrichment in heterotrophic organs relative to leaves in a landscape-building desert plant species

Biogeosciences ◽

10.5194/bg-12-15-2015 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

pp. 15-27 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

J. Zhang ◽

L. Gu ◽

F. Bao ◽

Y. Cao ◽

Y. Hao ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Carbon Isotope ◽

Plant Species ◽

Sand Dunes ◽

Stable Carbon Isotope ◽

Isotope Ratios ◽

Desert Plant ◽

C3 Plant ◽

Carbon Isotope Ratios ◽

Scientific Disciplines ◽

Whole Plant

Abstract. A longstanding puzzle in isotope studies of C3 plant species is that heterotrophic plant organs (e.g., stems, roots, seeds, and fruits) tend to be enriched in 13C compared to the autotrophic organ (leaves) that provides them with photosynthate. Our inability to explain this puzzle suggests key deficiencies in understanding post-photosynthetic metabolic processes. It also limits the effectiveness of applications of stable carbon isotope analyses in a variety of scientific disciplines ranging from plant physiology to global carbon cycle studies. To gain insight into this puzzle, we excavated whole plant architectures of Nitraria tangutorum Bobrov, a C3 species that has an exceptional capability of fixing sands and building sand dunes, in two deserts in northwestern China. We systematically and simultaneously measured carbon isotope ratios and nitrogen and phosphorous contents of different parts of the excavated plants. We also determined the seasonal variations in leaf carbon isotope ratios on nearby intact plants of N. tangutorum. We found, for the first time, that higher nitrogen contents in heterotrophic organs were significantly correlated with increased heterotrophic 13C enrichment compared to leaves. However, phosphorous contents had no effect on the enrichment. In addition, new leaves had carbon isotope ratios similar to roots but were progressively depleted in 13C as they matured. We concluded that a nitrogen-mediated process, hypothesized to be the refixation of respiratory CO2 by phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) carboxylase, was responsible for the differences in 13C enrichment among different heterotrophic organs, while processes such as fractionating foliar metabolism and preferentially loading into phloem of 13C-enriched sugars may contribute to the overall autotrophic–heterotrophic difference in carbon isotope compositions.

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