<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>
<oai_dc:dc xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:oai_dc="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/ http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc.xsd">
  <dc:contributor>M.A. Giorgis</dc:contributor>
  <dc:contributor>M. Anand</dc:contributor>
  <dc:contributor>L. Enrico</dc:contributor>
  <dc:contributor>N. Perez-Harguindeguy</dc:contributor>
  <dc:contributor>V. Falczuk</dc:contributor>
  <dc:contributor>L.L. Tieszen</dc:contributor>
  <dc:contributor>M. Cabido</dc:contributor>
  <dc:creator>L.C.R. Silva</dc:creator>
  <dc:date>2011</dc:date>
  <dc:description>&lt;div id="ASec1" class="AbstractSection"&gt;&lt;p class="Heading"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Aim&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="Para"&gt;Millennial-scale biogeographic changes are well understood in many parts of the world, but little is known about long-term vegetation dynamics in subtropical regions. Here we investigate shifts in C&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;/C&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt; plant abundance occurred in central Argentina during the past few millennia&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div id="ASec2" class="AbstractSection"&gt;&lt;p class="Heading"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Methods&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="Para"&gt;We determined present day soil organic matter δ&lt;sup&gt;13&lt;/sup&gt;C signatures of grasslands, shrublands and woodlands, containing different mixtures of C&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; and C&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt; plants. We measured past changes in the relative cover of C&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;/C&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt; plants by comparing δ&lt;sup&gt;13&lt;/sup&gt;C values in soil profiles with present day δ&lt;sup&gt;13&lt;/sup&gt;C signatures. We analyzed &lt;sup&gt;14&lt;/sup&gt;C activity in soil depths that showed major changes in vegetation.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div id="ASec3" class="AbstractSection"&gt;&lt;p class="Heading"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Results&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="Para"&gt;Present day relative cover of C&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;/C&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt; plants determines whole ecosystem δ&lt;sup&gt;13&lt;/sup&gt;C signatures integrated as litter and superficial soil organic matter (R&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; = 0.78; &lt;i class="EmphasisTypeItalic "&gt;p&lt;/i&gt; &amp;lt; 0.01). Deeper soils show a consistent shift in δ&lt;sup&gt;13&lt;/sup&gt;C, indicating a continuous replacement of C&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt; by C&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; plants since 3,870 (±210) YBP. During this period, the relative abundance of C&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; plants increased 32% (average across sites) with significant changes being observed in all studied ecosystems.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div id="ASec4" class="AbstractSection"&gt;&lt;p class="Heading"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Conclusions&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="Para"&gt;Our results show that C&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt; species were more abundant in the past, but C&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; species became dominant during the late Holocene. We identified increases in the relative C&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;/C&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt; cover in grasslands, shrublands and woodlands, suggesting a physiological basis for changes in vegetation. The replacement of C&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt; by C&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; plants coincided with changes in climate towards colder and wetter conditions and could represent a climatically driven shift in the C&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt; species optimum range.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</dc:description>
  <dc:format>application/pdf</dc:format>
  <dc:identifier>10.1007/s11104-011-0868-x</dc:identifier>
  <dc:language>en</dc:language>
  <dc:publisher>Springer</dc:publisher>
  <dc:title>Evidence of shift in C&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt; species range in central Argentina during the late Holocene</dc:title>
  <dc:type>article</dc:type>
</oai_dc:dc>