scholarly journals Effects of soil moisture, needle age and leaf morphology on carbon and oxygen uptake, incorporation and allocation: a dual labeling approach with 13CO2 and H218O in foliage of a coniferous forest

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ao Wang ◽  
Rolf T W Siegwolf ◽  
Jobin Joseph ◽  
Frank M Thomas ◽  
Willy Werner ◽  
...  

Abstract The carbon and oxygen isotopic composition of water and assimilates in plants reveals valuable information on plant responses to climatic conditions. Yet, the carbon and oxygen uptake, incorporation and allocation processes determining isotopic compositions are not fully understood. We carried out a dual-isotope labeling experiment at high humidity with 18O-enriched water (H218O) and 13C-enriched CO2 (13CO2) with attached Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) branches and detached twigs of hemiparasitic mistletoes (Viscum album ssp. austriacum) in a naturally dry coniferous forest, where also a long-term irrigation takes place. After 4 h of label exposure, we sampled previous- and recent-year leaves, twig phloem and twig xylem over 192 h for the analysis of isotope ratios in water and assimilates. For both species, the uptake into leaf water and the incorporation of the 18O-label into leaf assimilates was not influenced by soil moisture, while the 13C-label incorporation into assimilates was significantly higher under irrigation compared with control dry conditions. Species-specific differences in leaf morphology or needle age did not affect 18O-label uptake into leaf water, but the incorporation of both tracers into assimilates was two times lower in mistletoe than in pine. The 18O-label allocation in water from pine needles to twig tissues was two times higher for phloem than for xylem under both soil moisture conditions. In contrast, the allocation of both tracers in pine assimilates were similar and not affected by soil moisture, twig tissue or needle age. Soil moisture effects on 13C-label but not on 18O-label incorporation into assimilates can be explained by the stomatal responses at high humidity, non-stomatal pathways for water and isotope exchange reactions. Our results suggest that non-photosynthetic 18O-incorporation processes may have masked prevalent photosynthetic processes. Thus, isotopic variation in leaf water could also be imprinted on assimilates when photosynthetic assimilation rates are low.

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Joseph Levy

Abstract Outside of hydrologically wetted active layer soils and humidity-sensitive soil brines, low soil moisture is a limiting factor controlling biogeochemical processes in the McMurdo Dry Valleys. But anecdotal field observations suggest that episodic wetting and darkening of surface soils in the absence of snowmelt occurs during high humidity conditions. Here, I analyse long-term meteorological station data to determine whether soil-darkening episodes are present in the instrumental record and whether they are, in fact, correlated with relative humidity. A strong linear correlation is found between relative humidity and soil reflectance at the Lake Bonney long-term autonomous weather station. Soil reflectance is found to decrease annually by a median of 27.7% in response to high humidity conditions. This magnitude of darkening is consistent with soil moisture rising from typical background values of < 0.5 wt.% to 2–3 wt.%, suggesting that regional atmospheric processes may result in widespread soil moisture generation in otherwise dry surface soils. Temperature and relative humidity conditions under which darkening is observed occur for hundreds of hours per year, but are dominated by episodes occurring between midnight and 07h00 local time, suggesting that wetting events may be common, but are not widely observed during typical diel science operations.


2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. K. Lengger ◽  
Y. A. Lipsewers ◽  
H. de Haas ◽  
J. S. Sinninghe Damsté ◽  
S. Schouten

Abstract. Thaumarchaeota are amongst the most abundant microorganisms in aquatic environments, however, their metabolism in marine sediments is still debated. Labeling studies in marine sediments have previously been undertaken, but focused on complex organic carbon substrates which Thaumarchaeota have not yet been shown to take up. In this study, we investigated the activity of Thaumarchaeota in sediments by supplying different 13C-labeled substrates which have previously been shown to be incorporated into archaeal cells in water incubations and/or enrichment cultures. We determined the incorporation of 13C-label from bicarbonate, pyruvate, glucose and amino acids into thaumarchaeal intact polar lipid-glycerol dibiphytanyl glycerol tetraethers (IPL-GDGTs) during 4–6 day incubations of marine sediment cores from three sites on the Iceland shelf. Thaumarchaeal intact polar lipids, in particular crenarchaeol, were detected at all stations and concentrations remained constant or decreased slightly upon incubation. No 13C incorporation in any IPL-GDGT was observed at stations 2 (clay-rich sediment) and 3 (organic-rich sediment). In bacterial/eukaryotic IPL-derived fatty acids at station 3, contrastingly, a large uptake of 13C label (up to + 80‰ ) was found. 13C was also respired during the experiment as shown by a substantial increase in the 13C content of the dissolved inorganic carbon. In IPL-GDGTs recovered from the sandy sediments at station 1, however, some enrichment in δ13C (1–4‰ ) was detected after incubation with bicarbonate and pyruvate. The low incorporation rates suggest a low activity of Thaumarchaeota in marine sediments and/or a low turnover rate of thaumarchaeal IPL-GDGTs due to their low degradation rates. Cell numbers and activity of sedimentary Thaumarchaeota based on IPL-GDGT measurements may thus have previously been overestimated.


1976 ◽  
Vol 56 (4) ◽  
pp. 811-815 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. J. HUME ◽  
J. G. CRISWELL ◽  
K. R. STEVENSON

Soybeans (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) were grown at various soil moisture levels around nodules so effects on nitrogen fixation could be studied. Plants were grown in a growth room in 35-cm diam pots. Pots contained two layers of loam–sand mixture separated by a layer of coarse silica, intended to restrict capillary movement of soil moisture from the bottom to the top soil layer. At the beginning of seed development, pots received 200 ml water on the surface, 200 ml in the bottom layer through plastic tubes or 100 ml each way. Plants with good root development in the bottom soil layer maintained leaf water potentials greater than − 6 bars, while soil moisture around nodules varied from 4 to 20%. In three individual experiments, in which only plants with leaf water potentials greater than − 6 bars were considered, there was no relationship between soil moisture around nodules and mg N2[C2H2] fixed/g nodule dry weight × h. When results of two experiments with similar fixation means were combined, there was a barely significant (R2 =.19*) quadratic relationship, with very dry soil or soil near field capacity around nodules decreasing fixation slightly. Percent moisture in soil around nodules did not affect nodule moisture content, indicating that nodule moisture status was maintained if plants received adequate moisture from below the nodule zone.


1981 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-162 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. D. Misra ◽  
P. C. Pant

SUMMARYA field experiment evaluating criteria for scheduling wheat irrigation was conducted from 1975 to 1977 in a sandy loam soil with treatments scheduled according to physiological stages, soil moisture conditions, pan evaporation and leaf water potential. Grain and straw yields, spikes/m, fertile spikelets/spike and number and weight of grains/spike were significantly influenced by treatments. Irrigation based on leaf water potential was as good as when based on physiological stages or soil moisture, and the use of pan evaporation was no better than other methods of scheduling.


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