• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.47-63
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• 1998

In order to compare species-specific calcium metabolism, we collected 127 species belonging to 40 different families grown on various habitats including saline, limestone, wetland during the 1996 vegetation period, and analyzed their inorganic ion contents. Plants investigated were divided into 5 groups according to their physiological properties: 1) Chenopodiaceae, Aizoaceae, Caryophyllaceae, Portulacaceae and Phytolaccaceae of Centrospermales and Polygonaceae (Polygonales had a little water-soluble $Ca^{2+}$ but contained high contents of insoluble $Ca^{2+}$ particularly as Ca-oxalate (Chenopodiaceae type), 2) Some plant species such as Rosaceae produced oxalate in amounts insufficient to precipitate all incoming $Ca^{2+}$ and thus contained a surplus of dissolved $Ca^{2+}$ (Rosaceae type), 3) The contents of water-soluble $Ca^{2+}$ in plant species of Crassulaceae. Plantaginaceae, Asclepiadaceae, and Zygophyllaceae were equal to or greater than those of K ($K/Ca{\leq}1$; Crassulaceae type), and 4) K/Ca ratios of Compositae were significantly fluctuated depending on species and soil $Ca^{2+}$ level of their habitats (Compositae type). 5) Certain monocots (Gramineae, Cyperaceae, Juncaceae), in contrast to the dicotyledonous plant families mentioned above, showed a very distinct type of calcium metabolism, that is, the K/Ca ratios of 8~10 were maintained indifferently in the species and their habitat types (Graminae type). These results plants within the same taxon have similar physiological aspects as weel as morphological attributes. To understand calcium metabolism of certain plant species, therefore, it is desirable to approach on the basis of physiological concept (calciotroph or calciophobe) rather than the ecological one (calcicole or calcifuge).