Nature 363, 439 - 443 (03 June 1993); doi:10.1038/363439a0

Vegetation effects on the isotope composition of oxygen in atmospheric CO₂

Graham D. Farquhar^*, Jon Lloyd^*, John A. Taylor^†, Lawrence B. Flanagan^‡, James P. Syvertsen^§, Kerry T. Hubick^*, S. Chin Wong^* & James R. Ehleringer

^*Plant Environmental Biology Group, Research School of Biological Sciences, Institute of Advanced Studies, Australian National University, GPO Box 475, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia
^†Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies, Institute of Advanced Studies, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia
^‡Department of Biology, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa K1S 5B6, Ontario, Canada
^§Citrus Research and Education Center, University of Florida, Lake Alfred, Florida 33850, USA
Department of Biology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112, USA

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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