Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Nitrogen isotopic composition of plant-soil in the Loess Plateau and its responding to environmental change

  • ArticlesAtmospheric Sciences
  • Published:
Chinese Science Bulletin

Abstract

The nitrogen isotope of soil is of emerging significance as an indicator of climatic change and biogeochemical cycle of nitrogen in nature systems. In this paper, the nitrogen content and isotopic composition of modern ecosystems from arid and semiarid Loess Plateau in northwestern China, including plant roots and surface soil, were determined to investigate trends in δ15N variation of plant roots and soil along a precipitation and temperature gradient in northwestern China under the East Asian Monsoon climate condition. The δ15N values of surface soil from the study area vary from −1.2‰ to 5.8‰ but from −5.1‰ to 1.9‰ in the plant roots. Our results indicate that (1) although the isotopic compositions of both plant roots and surface soil change with a similar trend along the climate gradient, the apparent nitrogen difference between plant roots and soil existed, with Δδ15N values ranging from 0.3‰ to 7.2‰ with average of 4.1‰ and (2) mean annual precipitation (MAP) is the dominant factor for isotopic composition of plant-soil nitrogen in the Loess Plateau, and the δ15N values are less correlated with MAT; we suggest that nitrogen isotopic composition of soil is a potential tracer for environmental changes.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Schuur E A G, Matson P A. Net primary productivity and nutrient cycling across a mesic to wet precipitation gradient in Hawaiian montane forest. Oecologia, 2001, 128: 431–442

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Heaton T H E. The 15N/14N ratios of plants in South Africa and Namibia: relationship to climate and coastal/saline environments. Oecologia, 1987, 74: 236–246

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Handley L L, Odee D, Scrimgeour C M. 15N and 13C patterns in savanna vegetation: dependence on water availability and disturbance. Funct Ecol, 1994, 8: 306–314

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Piccolo M C, Neil C, Mellilo J M, et al. 15N natural abundance in forest and pasture soils of the Brazilian Amazon Basin. Plant Soil, 1996, 182: 249–258

    Google Scholar 

  5. Hogberg P. 15N natural abundance in soil-plant systems. New Phytol, 1997, 137(2): 179–203

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Schulze E D, Williams R J, Farquhar G D, et al. Carbon and nitrogen isotope discrimination and nitrogen nutrition of trees along a rainfall gradient in northern Australia. Aust J Plant Physiol, 1998, 25: 413–425

    Google Scholar 

  7. Robinson D, Handley L L, Scrimgeour C M. A theory for 15N/14N fractionation in nitrate-grown vascular plants. Planta, 1998, 205: 397–406

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Shearer G, Duffy J, Kohl D H, et al. The nitrogen-15 abundance in a wide variety of soils. Soil Sci Soc Am J, 1978, 42: 899–902

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Mariotti A, Pierre D, Vedy J C, et al. The abundance of natural ni trogen 15 in the organic matter of soils along an altitudinal gradient, Catena, 1980, 7: 293–300

    Google Scholar 

  10. Garten C T J. Variation in foliar 15N abundance and the availability of soil nitrogen on Walker Branch Watershed. Ecology, 1993, 74: 2098–2113

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Evans R D, Ehleringer J R. A break in the nitrogen cycle in aridlands? Evidence from δ15N of soils. Oecologia, 1993, 94: 314–317

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Neff J C, Townsend A R, Gleixner G, et al. Variable effects of nitrogen additions on the stability and turnover of soil carbon. Nature, 2002, 419: 915–917

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Hipkin C R, Simpson D J, Wainwright S J, et al. Nitrification by plants that also fix nitrogen. Nature, 2004, 430: 98–101

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Hogberg P, Hogberg M N, Quist M, et al. Nitrogen isotope fractionation during nitrogen uptake by ectomycorrhizal and non-mycorrhizal Pinus sylvestris. New Phytol, 1999, 142(3): 569–576

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Austin A T, Sala O E. Foliar δ15N is negatively correlated with rainfall along the IGBP transect in Australia. Aust J Plant Physiol, 1999, 26: 293–295

    Google Scholar 

  16. Handley L L, Austin A T, Robinson D, et al. The 15N natural abundance (δ15N) of ecosystem samples reflects measures of water availability. Aust J Plant Physiol, 1999, 26: 185–199

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Martinelli L A, Piccolo M C, Townsend A R, et al. Nitrogen stable isotopic composition of leaves and soil: tropical versus temperate forests. Biogeochemistry, 1999, 46: 45–65

    Google Scholar 

  18. Schulze E D, Farquhar G D, Miller J M, et al. Interpretation of increased foliar δ15N in woody species along a rainfall gradient in northern Australia. Aust J Plant Physiol, 1999, 26: 296–298

    Google Scholar 

  19. David R. δ15N as an Integrator of the Nitrogen Cycle. Trends Ecol Evol, 2001, 16(3): 153–162

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Brenner D L, Amundson R, Baisden W T, et al. Soil N and 15N variation with time in a California annual grassland ecosystem. Geochim Cosmochim Acta, 2001, 65(22): 4171–4186

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Amundson R, Austin A T, Schuur E A G, et al. Global patterns of the isotopic composition of soil and plant nitrogen. Global Biogeochem Cy, 2003, 17(1): 1031, doi:10.1029/2002GB001903

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Aranibar J N, Otter L, Macko S A, et al. Nitrogen cycling in the soil—plant system along a precipitation gradient in the Kalahari sands. Global Change Biol, 2004, 10: 359–373

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Swap R J, Aranibar J N, Dowty P R, et al. Natural abundance of 13C and 15N in C3 and C4 vegetation of southern Africa: patterns and implications. Glob Change Biol, 2004, 10: 350–358

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Houlton B Z, Sigman D M, Schuur E A G, et al. Isotopic evidence for large gaseous nitrogen losses from tropical rainforests. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 2006, 103(23): 8745–8750

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Houlton B Z, Sigman D M, Hedin L O. A climate-driven switch in plant nitrogen acquisition within tropical forest communities. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 2007, 104(21): 8902–8906

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Ding Y H. Monsoons over China: Dordrecht/Boston/London. Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1994. 12–36

    Google Scholar 

  27. Zhu Z C. Basic features of forest steppe in the Loess Plateau (in Chinese). Sci Geogr Sin, 1994(2): 152–156

  28. Peuke D, Gessler A, Rennenberg H. The effect of drought on C and N stable isotopes in different fractions of leaves, stems and roots of sensitive and tolerant beech ecotypes. Plant Cell Environ, 2006, 29: 823–835

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Dijkstra P, Williamson C, Menyailo O, et al. Nitrogen stable isotope composition of leaves and roots of plants growing in a forest and a meadow. Isot Environ Healt S, 2003, 39(1): 29–39

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Molina J A E, Clapp C E, Linden D R, et al. Modeling the incorporation of corn (Zea mays L.) carbon from roots and rhizodeposition into soil organic matter. Soil Biol Biochem, 2001, 33(1): 83–92

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Huang C Y. Soil Science (in Chinese). Beijing: Chinese Agricultural Press, 2000. 192–198

    Google Scholar 

  32. Kitayama K, Iwamoto K. Patterns of natural 15N abundance in the leaf-to-soil continuum of tropical rain forests differing in N availability on Mount Kinabalu, Borneo. Plant and Soil, 2001, 229: 203–212

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Kohls S J, Kessel C V, Baker D D, et al. Assessment of N2 fixation and N cycling by Dryas along a chronosequence within the forelands of the Athabasca Glacier. Soil Boil Biochem, 1994, 26(5): 623–632

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Liu W G, Huang Y S. Reconstructing in-situ vegetation dynamics using carbon isotopic composition of biopolymeric residues in the central Chinese Loess Plateau. Chem Geol, 2008, 249: 348–356

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi’an, 710075, China

    WeiGuo Liu & Zheng Wang

  2. School of Human Settlement and Civil Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, 710049, China

    WeiGuo Liu

  3. Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Zheng Wang

Authors
  1. WeiGuo Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Zheng Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to WeiGuo Liu.

Additional information

Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 40673012 and 40599422), and National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2004CB720200)

About this article

Cite this article

Liu, W., Wang, Z. Nitrogen isotopic composition of plant-soil in the Loess Plateau and its responding to environmental change. Chin. Sci. Bull. 54, 272–279 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-008-0442-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-008-0442-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation