Abstract
Natural abundances of the rare stable isotope of nitrogen, N-15, are now being used widely in research on N cycling in organisms and ecosystems. N-15 natural abundances are used in fundamentally different ways from traditional N-15 tracers by integrating N cycle processes via hi isotope fractionations and the mixing of various N-containing pools. This approach of using N-15 natural abundances still requires certain technical and conceptual advances before it can be used routinely in ecological research. Here,the basis of the natural abundance N-15 approach and opportunities for applying It In ecology are reviewed, and recent progress towards overcoming some of the key technical problems and in revealing large-scale patterns in N cycle processes is discussed.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 153-162 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Trends in Ecology & Evolution |
Volume | 16 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2001 |
Keywords
- N-15 NATURAL-ABUNDANCE
- STABLE ISOTOPES
- PHYSIOLOGICAL ECOLOGY
- FOOD-WEB
- FOREST
- NITRATE
- PLANT
- DENITRIFICATION
- FRACTIONATION
- SOILS