Photosynthetica 2006, 44(1):102 | DOI: 10.1007/s11099-005-0164-1

Characterization of photosynthetic pathway of plant species growing in the eastern Tibetan plateau using stable carbon isotope composition

M. C. Li1,2, H. Y. Liu3, X. F. Yi1, L. X. Li1,*
1 Northwest Institute of Plateau Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xining, P.R. China
2 Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Haidian District, Beijing, P.R. China
3 Tianjin University of Science and Technology, Tianjin, P.R. China

The photosynthetic pathway of plant species collected at Menyuan, Henan, and Maduo sites, east of Tibetan Plateau, China, during the growing season were studied using stable carbon isotopes in leaves. The 232 samples leaves analyzed belonged to 161 species, 30 families, and 94 genera. The δ13C values (from -24.6 to - 29.2 ‰) indicated that all the considered species had a photosynthetic C3 pathway. The absence of plant species with C4 photosynthetic pathway might be due to the extremely low air temperature characterizing the Tibetan Plateau. The average δ13C value was significantly (p<0.05) different between annuals and perennials at the three considered study sites. Hence the longer-lived species had greater water-use efficiency (WUE) than shorter-lived species, that is, longer-lived species are better adapted to the extreme environmental conditions of the Tibetan Plateau.

Additional key words: adaptation to environment; alpine meadow; species differences; water use efficiency; δ13C values

Received: March 7, 2005; Accepted: July 7, 2005; Published: March 1, 2006  Show citation

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Li, M.C., Liu, H.Y., Yi, X.F., & Li, L.X. (2006). Characterization of photosynthetic pathway of plant species growing in the eastern Tibetan plateau using stable carbon isotope composition. Photosynthetica, 44(1), 102. doi: 10.1007/s11099-005-0164-1
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