Indicating atmospheric sulfur by means of S-isotope in leaves of the plane, osmanthus and camphor trees

Xiao, Hua-Yun; Wang, Yan-Li; Tang, Cong-Guo; Liu, Cong-Qiang

Indicating atmospheric sulfur by means of S-isotope in leaves of the plane, osmanthus and camphor trees

2012

Xiao, Hua-Yun | Wang, Yan-Li | Tang, Cong-Guo | Liu, Cong-Qiang

Foliar δ³⁴S values of three soil-growing plant species (Platanus Orientalis L., Osmanthus fragrans L. and Cinnamomum camphora) have been analyzed to indicate atmospheric sulfur. The foliar δ³⁴S values of the three plant species averaged −3.11±1.94‰, similar to those of both soil sulfur (−3.73±1.04‰) and rainwater sulfate (−3.07±2.74‰). This may indicate that little isotopic fractionation had taken place in the process of sulfur uptake by root or leaves. The δ³⁴S values changed little in the transition from mature leaves to old/senescing leaves for both the plane tree and the osmanthus tree, suggestive of little isotope effect during sulfur redistribution in plant tissues. Significantly linear correlation between δ³⁴S values of leaves and rainwater sulfate for the plane and osmanthus trees allowed the tracing of temporal variations of atmospheric sulfur by means of foliar sulfur isotope, while foliage δ³⁴S values of the camphor is not an effective indicator of atmospheric sulfur.

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