Distribution of biomass of species differing in photosynthetic pathway along an altitudinal transect in southeastern wyoming grassland

Abstract

Based on the physiological characteristics and responses of C₃, C₄, and CAM plants to environmental factors, it is generally predicted that C₄ and CAM plants will become more abundant with increasing temperature and decreasing precipitation. To test this prediction, the relative contribution of each photosynthetic type to total plant community biomass was examined at seven study areas along an altitudinal transect in southeastern Wyoming grassland. In going from high (2,652 m) to low (1,405 m) elevation along this transect, mean annual temperature increased and annual precipitation decreased.The percentage of C₄ biomass composing each study area decreased with increasing elevation, while the percentage of C₃ biomass increased. All elevations had a significantly higher percentage of C₄ biomass in August than in June, reflecting the warm season growth characteristic of C₄ plants. Regressions of relative abundance of photosynthetic types on climatic variables showed that both mean annual temperature and annual precipitation were equally reliable as predictors of C₃-C₄ biomass, although we feel that temperature is of primary importance in explaining our observations. CAM species were present at all elevations, but showed no trends in biomass distribution with respect to elevation.