Snyder Keirith A, Robinson Sharon A, Schmidt Susanne, Hultine Kevin R
USDA Agricultural Research Service, Great Basin Rangelands Research Unit, Reno, 920 Valley Road, NV 89512, USA.
School of Earth, Atmospheric and Life Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales 2522, Australia.
Conserv Physiol. 2022 Aug 10;10(1):coac056. doi: 10.1093/conphys/coac056. eCollection 2022.
Successful conservation of threatened species and ecosystems in a rapidly changing world requires scientifically sound decision-making tools that are readily accessible to conservation practitioners. Physiological applications that examine how plants and animals interact with their environment are now widely used when planning, implementing and monitoring conservation. Among these tools, stable-isotope physiology is a potentially powerful, yet under-utilized cornerstone of current and future conservation efforts of threatened and endangered plants. We review the underlying concepts and theory of stable-isotope physiology and describe how stable-isotope applications can support plant conservation. We focus on stable isotopes of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen to address plant ecophysiological responses to changing environmental conditions across temporal scales from hours to centuries. We review examples from a broad range of plant taxa, life forms and habitats and provide specific examples where stable-isotope analysis can directly improve conservation, in part by helping identify resilient, locally adapted genotypes or populations. Our review aims to provide a guide for practitioners to easily access and evaluate the information that can be derived from stable-isotope signatures, their limitations and how stable isotopes can improve conservation efforts.
在迅速变化的世界中，成功保护受威胁物种和生态系统需要保护从业者能够轻易获取的科学合理的决策工具。在规划、实施和监测保护工作时，研究动植物如何与其环境相互作用的生理学应用现在被广泛使用。在这些工具中，稳定同位素生理学是当前和未来受威胁和濒危植物保护工作中一个潜在强大但未得到充分利用的基石。我们回顾了稳定同位素生理学的基本概念和理论，并描述了稳定同位素应用如何支持植物保护。我们重点关注碳、氢、氧和氮的稳定同位素，以探讨植物生态生理对从数小时到数百年的时间尺度上不断变化的环境条件的响应。我们回顾了来自广泛植物类群、生活形式和栖息地的例子，并提供了具体实例，说明稳定同位素分析如何能够直接改善保护工作，部分原因是帮助识别有复原力的、本地适应的基因型或种群。我们的综述旨在为从业者提供一个指南，以便他们能够轻松获取和评估可从稳定同位素特征中获得的信息、其局限性以及稳定同位素如何能够改善保护工作。
