Ecological tannin assays: a critique

The concept of protein precipitation potential has recently been introduced by Wisdom et al. (1987) as a means to combine chemical and protein precipitation assays of tannins for ecological studies. The definition of protein precipitation potential was not theoretically rigorous, and data analysis w...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Oecologia 1989, Vol.78 (1), p.93-96
Main Authors: Mole, S, Butler, L.G, Hagerman, A.E, Waterman, P.G
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alnus rubra
assays
Biochemistry
Chemical ecology
Chemical precipitation
Chemicals
Ecology
Epilobium angustifolium
Eucalyptus ovata
Materials
Moles
Plants
proteins
Tannins
Wisdom
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Summary:The concept of protein precipitation potential has recently been introduced by Wisdom et al. (1987) as a means to combine chemical and protein precipitation assays of tannins for ecological studies. The definition of protein precipitation potential was not theoretically rigorous, and data analysis was obscure. Our attempts to repeat the tannin extraction procedure gave incomplete recovery (24% loss of quebracho) of condensed tannins, the only type considered by Wisdom et al. In contrast we found their method efficient for hydrolysable tannins (80% recovery of tannic acid) which were undetected by their chemical assay of tannins. Their protein precipitation assay was confounded by chemical interference from both types of tannins. We conclude with recommendations for this type of analysis.
ISSN:0029-8549
1432-1939
DOI:10.1007/BF00377202