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Summary• The flux of carbon from tree photosynthesis through roots to ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi and other soil organisms is assumed to vary with season and with edaphic factors such as nitrogen availability, but these effects have not been quantified directly in the field.• To address this deficiency, we conducted high temporal-resolution tracing of 13 C from canopy photosynthesis to different groups of soil organisms in a young boreal Pinus sylvestris forest.• There was a 500% higher below-ground allocation of plant C in the late (August) season compared with the early season (June). Labelled C was primarily found in fungal fatty acid biomarkers (and rarely in bacterial biomarkers), and in Collembola, but not in Acari and Enchytraeidae. The production of sporocarps of ECM fungi was totally dependent on allocation of recent photosynthate in the late season. There was no short-term (2 wk) effect of additions of N to the soil, but after 1 yr, there was a 60% reduction of below-ground C allocation to soil biota.• Thus, organisms in forest soils, and their roles in ecosystem functions, appear highly sensitive to plant physiological responses to two major aspects of global change: changes in seasonal weather patterns and N eutrophication.

SummaryFor soils in carbon balance, losses of soil carbon from biological activity are balanced by organic inputs from vegetation. Perturbations, such as climate or land use change, have the potential to disrupt this balance and alter soil-atmosphere carbon exchanges. As the quantification of soil organic matter stocks is an insensitive means of detecting changes, certainly over short timescales, there is a need to apply methods that facilitate a quantitative understanding of the biological processes underlying soil carbon balance. We outline the processes by which plant carbon enters the soil and critically evaluate isotopic methods to quantify them. Then, we consider the balancing CO 2 flux from soil and detail the importance of partitioning the sources of this flux into those from recent plant assimilate and those from native soil organic matter. Finally, we consider the interactions between the inputs of carbon to soil and the losses from soil mediated by biological activity. We emphasize the key functional role of the microbiota in the concurrent processing of carbon from recent plant inputs and native soil organic matter. We conclude that quantitative isotope labelling and partitioning methods, coupled to those for the quantification of microbial community substrate use, offer the potential to resolve the functioning of the microbial control point of soil carbon balance in unprecedented detail.

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Stable isotopes are often utilized as intrinsic tracers to study the effects of human land uses on the structural and functional characteristics of ecosystems. Here, we illustrate how stable isotopes of H, C, and O have been utilized to document changes in ecosystem structure and function using a case study from a subtropical savanna ecosystem. Specifically, we demonstrate that: (1) delta 13C values of soil organic carbon record a vegetation change in this ecosystem from C4 grassland to C3 woodland during the past 40-120 years, and (2) delta 2H and delta 18O of plant and soil water reveal changes in ecosystem hydrology that accompanied this grassland-to-woodland transition. In the Rio Grande Plains of North America, delta 13C values of plants and soils indicate that areas now dominated by C3 subtropical thorn woodland were once C4 grasslands. delta 13C values of current organic matter inputs from wooded landscape elements in this region are characteristic of C3 plants (-28 to -25/1000), while those of the associated soil organic carbon are higher and range from -20 to -15/1000. Approximately 50-90% of soil carbon beneath the present C3 woodlands is derived from C4 grasses. A strong memory of the C4 grasslands that once dominated this region is retained by delta 13C values of organic carbon associated with fine and coarse clay fractions. When delta 13C values are evaluated in conjunction with 14C measurements of that same soil carbon, it appears that grassland-to-woodland conversion occurred largely within the past 40-120 years, coincident with the intensification of livestock grazing and reductions in fire frequency. These conclusions substantiate those based on demographic characteristics of the dominant tree species, historical aerial photography, and accounts of early settlers and explores. Concurrent changes in soil delta 13C values and organic carbon content over the past 90 years also indicate that wooded landscape elements are behaving as sinks for atmospheric CO2 by sequestering carbon derived from both the previous C4 grassland and the present C3 woody vegetation. Present day woodlands have hydrologic characteristics fundamentally different from those of the original grasslands. Compared to plants in remnant grasslands, tree and shrub species in the woodlands are rooted more deeply and have significantly greater root biomass and density than grasslands. delta 18O and delta 2H values of plant and soil water confirm that grassland species acquire soil water primarily from the upper 0.5 m of the soil profile. In contrast, trees and shrubs utilize soil water from throughout the upper 4 m of the profile. Thus, soil water that formerly may have infiltrated beyond the reach of the grassland roots and contributed to local groundwater recharge or other hydrologic fluxes may now be captured and transpired by the recently formed woodland plant communities. The natural abundances of stable isotopes revealed fundamental information regarding the impacts of human land use activities on the structure and function of th...