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Can soil organic carbon isotopes be used to describe grass‐tree dynamics at a savanna‐grassland ecotone and within the savanna?
Author(s) -
McClaran Mitchel P.,
McPherson Guy R.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
journal of vegetation science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.1
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1654-1103
pISSN - 1100-9233
DOI - 10.2307/3236400
Subject(s) - ecotone , grassland , soil carbon , vegetation (pathology) , environmental science , tropical savanna climate , isotopes of carbon , deposition (geology) , δ13c , temperate climate , soil water , ecology , total organic carbon , agronomy , soil science , stable isotope ratio , geology , biology , ecosystem , geomorphology , habitat , sediment , medicine , physics , pathology , quantum mechanics
. We evaluated the use of soil organic carbon (SOC) isotopes to describe grass‐tree dynamics at locations at the savanna‐C 4 grassland ecotone and within a temperate semiarid Quercus savanna in southeastern Arizona, USA. SOC will not describe grass‐tree dynamics at locations within the savanna because isotope composition near the soil surface does not correspond with the overlying vegetation and recent C 3 carbon has been deposited at deep soil depths with no C 4 analog. In contrast, SOC can describe grass‐tree dynamics at the savanna‐grassland ecotone because isotope composition near the soil surface corresponds with overlying vegetation and significant deep soil deposition of C 3 carbon was not apparent. At the ecotone, trees became established in the last 700–1700 years. There is no evidence to suggest an unstable grass‐tree mixture at the ecotone since that time.