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Carbon on Earth naturally occurs in two stable isotopes, with 98.9% in the form of 12 C and 1.1% in 13 C. [1] [8] The ratio between these isotopes varies in biological organisms due to metabolic processes that selectively use one carbon isotope over the other, or "fractionate" carbon through kinetic or thermodynamic effects. [1]
In actuality, however, plants do not absorb all incoming sunlight (due to reflection, respiration requirements of photosynthesis and the need for optimal solar radiation levels) and do not convert all harvested energy into biomass, which results in a maximum overall photosynthetic efficiency of 3 to 6% of total solar radiation. [1]
C 3 carbon fixation occurs in all plants as the first step of the Calvin–Benson cycle. (In C 4 and CAM plants, carbon dioxide is drawn out of malate and into this reaction rather than directly from the air.) Cross section of a C 3 plant, specifically of an Arabidopsis thaliana leaf. Vascular bundles shown.
This ability to avoid photorespiration makes these plants more hardy than other plants in dry and hot environments, wherein stomata are closed and internal carbon dioxide levels are low. Under these conditions, photorespiration does occur in C 4 plants, but at a much lower level compared with C 3 plants in the same conditions.
There are also many varieties of anoxygenic photosynthesis, used mostly by bacteria, which consume carbon dioxide but do not release oxygen. [13] [14] Carbon dioxide is converted into sugars in a process called carbon fixation; photosynthesis captures energy from sunlight to convert carbon dioxide into carbohydrates.
This is known as carbon isotope discrimination and results in carbon-12 to carbon-13 ratios in the plant that are higher than in the free air. Measurement of this isotopic ratio is important in the evaluation of water use efficiency in plants, [32] [33] [34] and also in assessing the possible or likely sources of carbon in global carbon cycle ...
The pineapple is an example of a CAM plant.. Crassulacean acid metabolism, also known as CAM photosynthesis, is a carbon fixation pathway that evolved in some plants as an adaptation to arid conditions [1] that allows a plant to photosynthesize during the day, but only exchange gases at night.
δ 13 C varies in time as a function of productivity, the signature of the inorganic source, organic carbon burial, and vegetation type. Biological processes preferentially take up the lower mass isotope through kinetic fractionation. However some abiotic processes do the same. For example, methane from hydrothermal vents can be depleted by up ...