Maple Syrup: A Case Study

δ13C is a comparison between the ratio of carbon 13 and carbon 12 of the object of interest compared to a standard. The cause of the -20‰ of δ13C in the maple syrup is no cause for concern. The reason -20‰ of δ13C may have been a cause for concern is because there are some sugarwoods that will adulterate their maple syrup with corn syrup or cane sugar. Corn syrup, as well as cane sugar, have a higher δ13C content than maple syrup. Typically corn syrup and cane sugar have between -9‰ to -12‰ of δ13C while maple syrup typically has between -24‰ to -26‰ of δ13C (Martin et al. 1996). Maple syrup that has been adulterated with corn syrup or cane sugar has a higher carbon 13 content. However, the reason behind my high δ13C level is not due to adulteration but, is due to dry soil during the growing season of maple trees. To understand why it is necessary to understand why plants like corn have a higher δ13C content versus plants like the maple tree. …show more content…
First CO2 enters leaves through the stoma via diffusion. An enzyme, known as Rubisco, will fix the CO2 to form a 3 carbon compound (Khan academy [accessed 2017]). This 3 carbon compound will eventually be converted to sugar and become maple syrup (Perkins and van den Berg 2009). Plants that follow this metabolic pathway are known as C3 plants (Khan academy [accessed 2017]). It is important to note that Rubisco prefers to fix carbon 12 over carbon 13; therefore 13CO2 is more likely to diffuse out of the leaf through the stoma before the Rubisco is able to fix it (Farquhar et al. 1989). Thus maple syrup has less carbon 13 because the Rubisco enzyme is able to be more