Photosynthetic Mechanisms and Paleoecology from Carbon Isotope Ratios in Ancient Specimens of C4 and CAM Plants

Abstract

Carbon istotope ratios of modern, 10,000-year-old, and more than 40,000-year-old Atriplex confertifolia (C(4)) material from Nevada caves indicate that the C(4) photosynthetic pathway was operating in these plants over that period. Samples of a plant with crassulacean acid metabolism, Opuntia polyacantha, were also measured, and a shift in the 8(13)C value from -21.9 per mil (more than 40,000 years ago) to -13.9 per mil (10,000 years ago) was observed. This provides unique physiological evidence to support the hypothesis that the late Pleistocene pluvial climate in the region already had become drier about 10,000 years ago.