ISOTOPIC REASON FOR CARBON (13C / 12C) and NITROGEN (15N / 14N) FOR PLANT LEAVES IN BAHIA: INVESTIGATION ON ISOTOPIC VALUES OF ENVIRONMENTAL CO2
stable isotopes; δ13C e δ15N; plants; EA-IRMS
The stable carbon isotope, especially 12C and 13C in natural abundance, is used to examine physiological, ecological and biogeochemical processes related to ecosystems, providing important information. Various processes and environmental factors influence the isotopic composition of plants, such as light intensity, photosynthetic capacity, atmospheric humidity, variation in the CO2 source, simultaneous variation of the light source and the CO2 source, and also, the availability of water. Due to the new possibilities of isotopic measurements using the laser, the natural abundance of 13C is now an excellent tool for studying the ecosystem and plants. An increasing number of studies use isotopic fractionation between carbon reservoirs or an abundance of 13C in respiratory CO2 to examine the carbon source of respiration, production of plant biomass or sequestration of organic matter in soils. The 12C/13C ratio associated with plant metabolism is therefore essential for understanding natural isotopic signals. In the present study, the isotopic ratio of carbon in plants collected in three cities in Bahia was studied, and from the isotopic fractionation of d13C and d15N, changes in the isotopic pattern of carbon and nitrogen in leaves bulk were identified. From the results discussed as differences in the isotopic pattern of the leaves bulk of these plants, determined isotopic values of d13C of environmental CO2 in the cities of Salvador, Feira de Santana and Elísio Medrado