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An oxygen isotope chronometer for cellulose deposition: the successive leaves formed by tillers of a C 4 perennial grass
Author(s) -
Liu Hai Tao,
Yang Fang,
Gong Xiao Ying,
Schäufele Rudi,
Schnyder Hans
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
plant, cell and environment
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.646
H-Index - 200
eISSN - 1365-3040
pISSN - 0140-7791
DOI - 10.1111/pce.13010
Subject(s) - perennial plant , cellulose , oxygen , vapour pressure deficit , chemistry , carbon fibers , oxygen 18 , deposition (geology) , stable isotope ratio , botany , isotopes of carbon , isotopes of oxygen , agronomy , biology , environmental chemistry , photosynthesis , total organic carbon , transpiration , materials science , physics , organic chemistry , quantum mechanics , composite number , composite material , nuclear chemistry , paleontology , sediment
Multiannual time series of (palaeo)hydrological information can be reconstructed from the oxygen isotope composition of cellulose (δ 18 O Cel ) in biological archives, for example, tree rings, but our ability to temporally resolve information at subannual scale is limited. We capitalized on the short and predictable leaf appearance interval (2.4 d) of a perennial C 4 grass ( Cleistogenes squarrosa ), to assess its potential for providing highly time‐resolved δ 18 O Cel records of vapour pressure deficit (VPD). Plants grown at low (0.63 kPa) or high (1.58 kPa) VPD were swapped between VPD environments and exposed to the new environment for 7 d with simultaneous 13 CO 2 labelling. Then, leaves were sampled by age/position along individual tillers. Five leaves at different developmental stages were growing simultaneously. The period of most‐active leaf elongation, from 10 to 90% of final length, lasted 6.6 d, and ~80% of all carbon and oxygen incorporation in whole‐leaf cellulose occurred within 7 d. Cellulose deposition stopped at (or shortly after) full leaf expansion. The direction of change, low‐to‐high or high‐to‐low VPD, had no differential effect on new oxygen and carbon incorporation in cellulose. Successive leaves produced by tillers of C. squarrosa provide a δ 18 O Cel record useful for reconstructions of short‐term hydrological dynamics.