Abstract
There is a persistent and perhaps widespread view that the behaviour of 15N in soils and plants is too complex to permit variations in its natural abundance to be used as a tracer or even as a probe to explore plant-soil relationships in natural ecosystems (Högberg 1997, Handley and Scrimgeour, 1997, Griffith et al. 1999). It is well established that fractionation in the content of 15N in plant and soil material may occur as a consequence of both biological and physico-chemical processes (Handley and Raven 1992, Högberg 1997). However it is argued that the processes determining δ15N signatures of plants and soils are little understood and interpretations of δ15N are generally empirical (Handley and Raven 1992). This may well apply despite the number of studies that have reported distinct patterns and differences in nitrogen isotope signatures between plant communities and between species within those communities. The interpretation of such results is somewhat controversial. Many such studies are based on what I would regard as rather young communities (post-glacial) and subject to very significant and poorly quantified anthropogenic inputs of nitrogen (see Pearson and Stewart 1993).
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Stewart, G.R. (2001). What do δ15N Signatures tell Us about Nitrogen Relations in Natural Ecosystems?. In: Unkovich, M., Pate, J., McNeill, A., Gibbs, D.J. (eds) Stable Isotope Techniques in the Study of Biological Processes and Functioning of Ecosystems. Current Plant Science and Biotechnology in Agriculture, vol 40. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9841-5_5
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