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Applications of stable isotopes in plant ecology

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Progress in Botany

Part of the book series: Progress in Botany ((BOTANY,volume 64))

Abstract

The use of stable isotopes at natural abundance levels has brought a new dimension to our understanding of plant ecology. In the past two decades there have been remarkable advances in the theoretical understanding of discrimination processes, as well as technical developments in mass spectrometry, leading to an exponential growth in applications for natural systems. Stable isotopes provide plant ecologists with a quantitative and integrative framework for chemical, biological and ecological transformations. The range of stable isotopes currently routinely analysed for ecological applications and their natural abundances are shown in Table 1. Analyses of the relative natural abundances of stable isotopes of carbon (13C/12C), oxygen (18O/16O), nitrogen (15N/14N) and deuterium (D/H) have been used across a wide range of scales, from cellular to community and ecosystem level, contributing much to our understanding of the interactions between biosphere, pedosphere and atmosphere.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Ecologia e Biologia Vegetal Depto de Biologia Vegetal, FCUL, Bloco C2, Campo Grande, 1700, Lisboa, Portugal

    Cristina Máguas

  2. Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EA, UK

    Howard Griffiths

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  1. Cristina Máguas
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  2. Howard Griffiths
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Bochum

    K. Esser

  2. Darmstadt

    U. Lüttge

  3. Bielefeld

    W. Beyschlag

  4. Jena

    F. Hellwig

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Máguas, C., Griffiths, H. (2003). Applications of stable isotopes in plant ecology. In: Esser, K., Lüttge, U., Beyschlag, W., Hellwig, F. (eds) Progress in Botany. Progress in Botany, vol 64. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-55819-1_18

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-55819-1_18

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