Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://repositorio.inpa.gov.br/handle/1/19235
Title: Contributions of C3 and C4 plants to higher trophic levels in an Amazonian savanna
Authors: Magnusson, William Ernest
Araújo, Maria Carmozina de
Sobral Cintra, R. J. de
Lima, Albertina Pimental
Martinelli, Luiz Antônio
Sanaiotti, Tânia Margarete
Vasconcelos, Heraldo L.
Victória, Reynaldo Luiz
Keywords: C3 Plant
C4 Plant
Energy Flux
Food Chain
Savanna
Trophic Interaction
Amazonia
South America
Anura
Aves
Insecta
Isoptera
Mammalia
Nasutitermes
Poaceae
Squamata
Vertebrata
Issue Date: 1999
metadata.dc.publisher.journal: Oecologia
metadata.dc.relation.ispartof: Volume 119, Número 1, Pags. 91-96
Abstract: We studied the energy flow from C3 and C4 plants to higher trophic levels in a central Amazonian savanna by comparing the carbon stable-isotope ratios of potential food plants to the isotope ratios of species of different consumer groups. All C4 plants encountered in our study area were grasses and all C3 plants were bushes, shrubs or vines. Differences in δ13C ratios among bushes (x̄ =-30.8, SD = 1.2), vines (x̄ = -30.7, SD = 0.46) and trees (x̄ = -29.7, SD = 1.5) were small. However the mean δ13C ratio of dicotyledonous plants (x̄ = -30.4, SD = 1.3) was much more negative than that of the most common grasses (x̄ = -13.4, SD = 0.27). The insect primary consumers had δ13C ratios which ranged from a mean of -29.5 (SD = 0.47) for the grasshopper Tropidacris collaris to a mean of -14.7 (SD = 0.56) for a termite (Nasutitermes sp.), a range similar to that of the vegetation. However, the common insectivorous and omnivorous vertebrates had intermediate values for δ13C, indicating that carbon from different autotrophic sources mixes rapidly as it moves up the food chain. Despite this mixing, the frogs and lizards generally had higher values of δ13C (x̄ = -21.7, SD = 1.6; x̄ = -21.9, SD = 1.8, respectively) than the birds (x̄ = -24.8, SD = 1.8) and the only species of mammal resident in the savanna (x̄ = -25.4), indicating that they are generally more dependent on, or more able to utilise, food chains based on C4 grasses.
metadata.dc.identifier.doi: 10.1007/PL00008821
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