Nitrogen stable isotopic composition of leaves and soil: Tropical versus temperate forests

Martinelli, Luiz Antônio; Píccolo, Marisa de Cássia; Townsend, Alan R.; Vitousek, Peter M.; Cuevas, Elvira; McDowell, W. H.; Robertson, G. Philip; Santos, Osvaldo Cuesta; Treseder, Kathleen K.

doi:10.1007/bf01007573

Cited by 362 publications

(167 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…In the soil N of most of these forests, Schuur and Matson (6) have observed the high 15 N͞ 14 N characteristic of the mean of the tropical forest biome (2). Moreover, they observed that the integrated 15 N͞ 14 N of the top 50 cm of soils decreased with MAP, with the steepest change occurring between the sites with 3,350 and 4,050 mm of MAP (Fig.…”

mentioning

confidence: 91%

Isotopic evidence for large gaseous nitrogen losses from tropical rainforests

Houlton¹,

Sigman

Hedin³

2006

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

306

358

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The nitrogen isotopic composition ( 15 N͞ 14 N) of forested ecosystems varies systematically worldwide. In tropical forests, which are elevated in 15 N relative to temperate biomes, a decrease in ecosystem 15 N͞ 14 N with increasing rainfall has been reported. This trend is seen in a set of well characterized Hawaiian rainforests, across which we have measured the 15 N͞ 14 N of inputs and hydrologic losses. We report that the two most widely purported mechanisms, an isotopic shift in N inputs or isotopic discrimination by leaching, fail to explain this climate-dependent trend in 15 N͞ 14 N. Rather, isotopic discrimination by microbial denitrification appears to be the major determinant of N isotopic variations across differences in rainfall. In the driest climates, the 15 N͞ 14 N of total dissolved outputs is higher than that of inputs, which can only be explained by a 14 N-rich gas loss. In contrast, in the wettest climates, denitrification completely consumes nitrate in local soil environments, thus preventing the expression of its isotope effect at the ecosystem scale. Under these conditions, the 15 N͞ 14 N of bulk soils and stream outputs decrease to converge on the low 15 N͞ 14 N of N inputs. N isotope budgets that account for such local isotopic underexpression suggest that denitrification is responsible for a large fraction (24 -53%) of total ecosystem N loss across the sampled range in rainfall.climate ͉ isotope ͉ tropics ͉ ecosystem ͉ global change

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mentioning

confidence: 91%

Isotopic evidence for large gaseous nitrogen losses from tropical rainforests

Houlton¹,

Sigman

Hedin³

2006

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

306

358

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“…A number of studies have used 15 N natural abundance to determine whether late-successional legumes actively fix N-an approach made feasible by the fact that non-fixing plants in many tropical forests are substantially enriched in 15 N as a consequence of their open N cycle [64]. In most sites, 15 N natural abundance studies suggest that only a small fraction of canopy legumes are actively fixing N-even though many of them belong to genera that are known to nodulate and fix N under appropriate conditions [64][65][66]. An independent approach showed that very little symbiotic BNF was needed to balance N losses in an Amazonian forest [67].…”

Section: From Patterns To Ecological Controlsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biological nitrogen fixation: rates, patterns and ecological controls in terrestrial ecosystems

Vitousek

Menge

Reed³

et al. 2013

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

612

478

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New techniques have identified a wide range of organisms with the capacity to carry out biological nitrogen fixation (BNF)—greatly expanding our appreciation of the diversity and ubiquity of N fixers—but our understanding of the rates and controls of BNF at ecosystem and global scales has not advanced at the same pace. Nevertheless, determining rates and controls of BNF is crucial to placing anthropogenic changes to the N cycle in context, and to understanding, predicting and managing many aspects of global environmental change. Here, we estimate terrestrial BNF for a pre-industrial world by combining information on N fluxes with 15 N relative abundance data for terrestrial ecosystems. Our estimate is that pre-industrial N fixation was 58 (range of 40–100) Tg N fixed yr −1 ; adding conservative assumptions for geological N reduces our best estimate to 44 Tg N yr −1 . This approach yields substantially lower estimates than most recent calculations; it suggests that the magnitude of human alternation of the N cycle is substantially larger than has been assumed.

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“…This result indicates that the three sites are characterized by an open nitrogen cycle (Martinelli et al, 1999), and that denitrification promotes the accumulation of the heavier isotope of N. This accumulation is also reflected in the isotopic composition of plants leaves as discussed below.…”

Section: Soilsmentioning

confidence: 67%

“…Analysis of 13 C was intended to evaluate drought stress and water use efficiency (Farquhar et al, 1982;Lin and Sternberg 1992) whereas 15 N analysis was expected to indicate availability of mineral N in the soil and openness of the N cycle in the system (Martinelli et al, 1999).…”

Section: N)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Heterogeneity of elemental composition and natural abundance of stables isotopes of C and N in soils and leaves of mangroves at their southernmost West Atlantic range

et al. 2016

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Mangrove communities were selected in the state of Santa Catarina, Brazil, near their southernmost limit of distribution, to study mineral nutrient relation in soils and plants. Communities included three true mangrove species, Rhizophora mangle, Laguncularia racemosa and Avicennia germinans, and two associated species, the fern Acrostichum danaeifolium, and the grass Spartina densiflora. The sites included communities in the lower Río Tavares near Florianopolis city, Sonho beach near Palhoça city, and the Santo Antonio lagoon. These sites included a full range of mangroves under humid climate where winter temperatures, instead of salinity, may be the main factor regulating their productive capacity and species composition. Soil salinity was determined by the concentration of soluble Na, and soil C and N were linearly correlated indicating their association in organic matter. Tavares site showed higher specific conductivity, and concentrations of Na and Mg in the soil layer below 40 cm depth, indicating larger influence of marine water. Isotopic signature of C increased with soil depth suggesting that microorganisms decomposing organic matter are releasing 13 C depleted CO 2 . Nitrogen isotopic signature decreased with soil depth, indicating enrichment in 15 N possibly as a result of denitrification in the upper soil layers. Mineral elements in leaf tissues showed A. schaueriana with higher concentrations of N, P, Na, K, Cu, Zn, and Na/Ca ratio. Spartina densiflora was characterized by the lowest N and K concentrations, and the highest concentrations of Al and Fe. Rhizophora mangle and L. racemosa had the highest Ca concentrations. Carbon isotopic signatures identified S. densiflora as a C4 plant, and A. schaueriana as the mangrove species occupying comparatively more water stressed microsites than the rest. Leaf nitrogen isotopic signatures were positive, in correspondence with the soil values. The results support the hypothesis that sites sampled were comparatively fertile, because sediment transport through fresh water run-off is predominant in humid coasts, and therefore plants were not limited by nutrient supply, nor particularly stressed by soil salinity.Keywords: mangroves, soils, leaves, nutrients, stable isotopes, southwestern Atlantic latitudinal limit.Heterogeneidade da composição elementar e abundância natural de isótopos estáveis de C e N no solo e folhas dos manguezais no extremo sul da sua distribuição na costa Atlântica ocidental

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Nitrogen stable isotopic composition of leaves and soil: Tropical versus temperate forests

Cited by 362 publications

References 53 publications

Isotopic evidence for large gaseous nitrogen losses from tropical rainforests

Isotopic evidence for large gaseous nitrogen losses from tropical rainforests

Biological nitrogen fixation: rates, patterns and ecological controls in terrestrial ecosystems

Heterogeneity of elemental composition and natural abundance of stables isotopes of C and N in soils and leaves of mangroves at their southernmost West Atlantic range

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