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13 C‐isotopic fingerprint of Pinus pinaster Ait. and Pinus sylvestris L. wood related to the quality of standing tree mass in forests from NW Spain
Author(s) -
Fernandez Irene,
GonzálezPrieto Serafin J.,
Cabaneiro Ana
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
rapid communications in mass spectrometry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.528
H-Index - 136
eISSN - 1097-0231
pISSN - 0951-4198
DOI - 10.1002/rcm.2148
Subject(s) - pinus pinaster , pinus <genus> , basal area , forestry , chemistry , litter , dendrochronology , soil water , botany , horticulture , environmental science , agronomy , soil science , geography , biology , archaeology
Pine forest plantations of Pinus pinaster Ait. and P. sylvestris L. located in Galicia, NW Spain, were selected to study the 13 C/ 12 C‐isotopic fingerprint in wood core samples in order to find possible relationships between the δ 13 C at natural abundance levels and the quality of the standing tree mass. For each pine species, 24 forests growing on acidic soils were studied: half developed over granite and half over schists. Two dominant trees from each plot, corresponding to all possible combinations of forest stands with high or low site index and with adults or young trees, were drilled at the basal part of trunks using a Pressler drill to obtain tree ring samples. The C‐isotopic compositions of the litter and the soil organic matter from different soil depths were also determined and statistically significant correlations between these values and the 13 C content of the wood were observed. Despite internal variations due to the influence of site index, tree age and parent material, the isotopic fingerprint of P. pinaster wood (mean value δ 13 C = −26.2 ± 0.8‰) significantly differed ( P < 0.001) from that of P. sylvestris (mean value δ 13 C = −24.6 ± 0.7‰). Relationships between the quality of the stand and the C‐isotopic composition of the wood were observed, high quality stands having trees more 13 C‐depleted than low quality ones. A high correlation between wood δ 13 C and site index values for P. pinaster stands (r = −0.667, P < 0.001) was found, this correlation being even clearer when only P. pinaster growing over schists (r = −0.833, P < 0.001) are considered. Again, the correlation between the site index and the wood δ 13 C of young P. pinaster trees is higher when plots over granite or schists are separately considered. A similar fact occurs for adult P. sylvestris trees from schists stands, high quality specimens being 13 C‐depleted compared with low quality ones. On the other hand, 13 C natural abundance of wood from P. sylvestris trees seems to be also strongly influenced by the underlying parent material, young trees from granite stands having a statistically higher 13 C‐isotopic composition ( P < 0.05) than young trees from schists stands. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.