Characterization of photosynthetic pathway of plant species growing in the eastern Tibetan plateau using stable carbon isotope composition

The photosynthetic pathway of plant species collected at Menyuan, Henan, and Maduo sites, east of Tibetan Plateau, China, during the growing season were studied using stable carbon isotopes in leaves. The 232 samples leaves analyzed belonged to 161 species, 30 families, and 94 genera. The delta(13)C values (from -24.6 to -29.2 %o) indicated that all the considered species had a photosynthetic C-3 pathway. The absence of plant species with C-4 photosynthetic pathway might be due to the extremely low air temperature characterizing the Tibetan Plateau. The average delta(13)C value was significantly (p < 0.05) different between annuals and perennials at the three considered study sites. Hence the longer-lived species had greater water-use efficiency (WUE) than shorter-lived species, that is, longer-lived species are better adapted to the extreme environmental conditions of the Tibetan Plateau.