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Science 21 November 1997:
Vol. 278. no. 5342, pp. 1422 - 1426
DOI: 10.1126/science.278.5342.1422
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Research Articles

Impact of Lower Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide on Tropical Mountain Ecosystems

F. Alayne Street-Perrott, * Yongsong Huang, dagger R. Alan Perrott, Geoffrey Eglinton, Philip Barker, Leila Ben Khelifa, Douglas D. Harkness, Daniel O. Olago ddagger

Carbon-isotope values of bulk organic matter from high-altitude lakes on Mount Kenya and Mount Elgon, East Africa, were 10 to 14 per mil higher during glacial times than they are today. Compound-specific isotope analyses of leaf waxes and algal biomarkers show that organisms possessing CO2-concentrating mechanisms, including C4 grasses and freshwater algae, were primarily responsible for this large increase. Carbon limitation due to lower ambient CO2 partial pressures had a significant impact on the distribution of forest on the tropical mountains, in addition to climate. Hence, tree line elevation should not be used to infer palaeotemperatures.

F. A. Street-Perrott and R. A. Perrott are in the Tropical Palaeoenvironments Research Group, Department of Geography, University of Wales Swansea, Swansea SA2 8PP, UK. Y. Huang and G. Eglinton are at the Biogeochemistry Research Centre, Department of Geology, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1RJ, UK. P. Barker is at the Hydrodynamics and Sedimentology Laboratory, Department of Geography, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YB, UK. L. Ben Khelifa and D. O. Olago are at the School of Geography, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3TB, UK. D. D. Harkness is with the Natural Environment Research Council Radiocarbon Laboratory, Scottish Enterprise Technology Park, East Kilbride, Glasgow G75 0QF, UK.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed.

dagger    Present address: Department of Geosciences, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA.

ddagger    Present address: Department of Geology, University of Nairobi, Post Office Box 30197, Nairobi, Kenya.

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