La. Martinelli et al., STABLE CARBON-ISOTOPE RATIO OF TREE LEAVES, BOLES AND FINE LITTER IN A TROPICAL FOREST IN RONDONIA, BRAZIL, Oecologia, 114(2), 1998, pp. 170-179
Leaves of 208 trees were collected for isotopic analysis together with
wood from 36 tree boles and 18 samples of fine litter from a terra-fi
rme forest located at Samuel Ecological Reserve, Rondonia State, in th
e southwestern Amazon region. The range of delta(13)C values in leaves
was from -28 to -36 parts per thousand, with an average (+/-1 SD) of
-32.1 +/- 1.5 parts per thousand, which was more negative than the del
ta(13)C values Of bole samples (-28.4 +/- 2.0 parts per thousand) and
fine litter (-28.7 +/- 2.0 parts per thousand). These values are withi
n the range found for tropical and subtropical forests. Pooling the de
lta(13)C values for leaf samples from trees of the same height gave av
erages which were positively correlated with plant height at a highly
significant level, with a slope of 0.06 and an intercept of -33.3 part
s per thousand and a correlation coefficient r(2) = 0.70 (P < 0.001).