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Stable isotopes

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Plant Physiological Ecology

Abstract

The use of stable isotopes at natural abundance levels is rapidly emerging as a powerful approach for understanding a number of physiological processes and food web and environmental interactions in ecology, especially in physiological ecology. The analysis of stable isotopes developed as an outgrowth from geochemical investigations and represents a relatively new approach within ecological studies. In the 1970s, the principal application of stable isotopes in physiological ecology was for the measurement of 13C/12C ratios to identify the photosynthetic pathway of a species. Today stable isotopes are being applied to a broader range of questions, including nitrogen fixation, water-use efficiency and water-source studies. Our ecological understanding of the applications of stable isotopes is still in its infancy, but recent advances suggest that the rapid expansion of stable isotope studies into new areas is likely to continue in the coming decade.

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Authors
  1. James R. Ehleringer
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  2. C. Barry Osmond
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Botany, University of California, Davis, CA, USA

    Robert W. Pearcy

  2. Department of Biology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA

    James R. Ehleringer

  3. Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

    Harold A. Mooney

  4. Laboratory of Biomedical and Environmental Sciences and Department of Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Philip W. Rundel

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Ehleringer, J.R., Osmond, C.B. (2000). Stable isotopes. In: Pearcy, R.W., Ehleringer, J.R., Mooney, H.A., Rundel, P.W. (eds) Plant Physiological Ecology. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-9013-1_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-9013-1_13

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-412-40730-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-010-9013-1

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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