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Vegetation effects on the isotope composition of oxygen in atmospheric CO2

Nature volume 363, pages 439–443 (1993)Cite this article

An Erratum to this article was published on 23 September 1993

Abstract

THE 18O/16O ratio in atmospheric CO2 is a signal dominated by CO2 exchange with the terrestrial biosphere and it has considerable potential to resolve the current importance of the oceans and individual terrestrial biomes as net sinks for anthropogenic CO2. Fractionation of the oxygen isotopes of CO2 occurs in plants owing to differential diffusion of C18O16O and C16O2 and to isotope effects in oxygen exchange with chloroplast water. Kere we investigate the consequences of these effects for the global distribution of oxygen isotopes in CO2. We predict that 18O isotopic exchange fluxes, especially between the atmosphere and terrestrial biosphere, are large, with considerable spatial variation. Near 70° N, where precipitation (and soil water) is most depleted in 18O, photosynthesis and respiration both deplete the atmospheric CO2 of O. This provides an explanation for the depletion of 18O in atmospheric CO2 at high northern latitudes1.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Plant Environmental Biology Group, Research School of Biological Sciences, Institute of Advanced Studies, Australian National University, GPO Box 475, Canberra, ACT, 2601, Australia

    Graham D. Farquhar, Jon Lloyd, Kerry T. Hubick & S. Chin Wong

  2. Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies, Institute of Advanced Studies, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, 2601, Australia

    John A. Taylor

  3. Department of Biology, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, K1S 5B6, Ontario, Canada

    Lawrence B. Flanagan

  4. Citrus Research and Education Center, University of Florida, Lake Alfred, Florida, 33850, USA

    James P. Syvertsen

  5. Department of Biology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, 84112, USA

    James R. Ehleringer

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  1. Graham D. Farquhar
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  2. Jon Lloyd
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  8. James R. Ehleringer
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Farquhar, G., Lloyd, J., Taylor, J. et al. Vegetation effects on the isotope composition of oxygen in atmospheric CO2. Nature 363, 439–443 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1038/363439a0

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