Phytolith-occluded carbon in leaves of Dendrocalamus Ronganensis influenced by drought during growing season.

Being an important carbon (C) sink, phytolith-occluded carbon (PhytOC) has been investigated in various soil-plant systems. However, the effects of environmental factors (i.e.

Electron probe microanalysis of the elemental composition of phytoliths from woody bamboo species.

Electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) is promising for accurately determining elemental components in micro-areas of individual phytolith particles, interpreting compositional features and formation mechanisms of phytoliths in plants, identifying archeological and sedimental phytolith. However, the EPMA method of analyzing mounted slide phytoliths has not well been defined. In this study, we attempted different EPMA methods to determine the elemental compositions of phytoliths in mounted slides.