Leaf water δ18O reflects water vapour exchange and uptake by C3 and CAM epiphytic bromeliads in Panama
Monica Mejia-Chang A , Casandra Reyes-Garcia A B , Ulli Seibt A C , Jessica Royles A , Moritz T. Meyer A , Glyn D. Jones A , Klaus Winter
D , Miquel Arnedo E and Howard Griffiths A F
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Physiological Ecology Group, Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EA, UK.
B Unidad de Recursos Naturales, Centro de Investigación Científica de Yucatán, Calle 43 Num. 130 Churburná de Hidalgo, Mérida, 97200, México.
C Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
D Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado 0843-03092, Balboa, Republic of Panama.
E Departament de Biologia Evolutiva, Ecologia i Ciències Ambientals, Fac. Biologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Av. Diagonal 645, 08028 Barcelona, Spain.
F Corresponding author. Email: hg230@cam.ac.uk
Functional Plant Biology 48(7) 732-742 https://doi.org/10.1071/FP21087
Submitted: 23 March 2021 Accepted: 20 April 2021 Published: 21 May 2021
Journal Compilation © CSIRO 2021 Open Access CC BY-NC-ND
Abstract
The distributions of CAM and C3 epiphytic bromeliads across an altitudinal gradient in western Panama were identified from carbon isotope (δ13C) signals, and epiphyte water balance was investigated via oxygen isotopes (δ18O) across wet and dry seasons. There were significant seasonal differences in leaf water (δ18Olw), precipitation, stored ‘tank’ water and water vapour. Values of δ18Olw were evaporatively enriched at low altitude in the dry season for the C3 epiphytes, associated with low relative humidity (RH) during the day. Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) δ18Olw values were relatively depleted, consistent with water vapour uptake during gas exchange under high RH at night. At high altitude, cloudforest locations, C3 δ18Olw also reflected water vapour uptake by day. A mesocosm experiment with Tillandsia fasciculata (CAM) and Werauhia sanguinolenta (C3) was combined with simulations using a non-steady-state oxygen isotope leaf water model. For both C3 and CAM bromeliads, δ18Olw became progressively depleted under saturating water vapour by day and night, although evaporative enrichment was restored in the C3 W. sanguinolenta under low humidity by day. Source water in the overlapping leaf base ‘tank’ was also modified by evaporative δ18O exchanges. The results demonstrate how stable isotopes in leaf water provide insights for atmospheric water vapour exchanges for both C3 and CAM systems.
Keywords: C3, CAM, Crassulacean acid metabolism, Tillandsia fasciculata, Werauhia sanguinolenta, photosynthetic pathway, gas exchange, epiphyte, oxygen isotopes, altitudinal gradient, mesocosm.
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