Convergence of soil nitrogen isotopes across global climate gradients

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Authors

Joseph M. Craine, Kansas State University
Andrew J. Elmore, University of Maryland
Lixin Wang, Indiana University
Laurent Augusto, Bordeaux Sciences Agro
W. Troy Baisden, National Isotope Centre
E. N. J. Brookshire, Montana State University
Michael D. Cramer, University of Cape Town
Niles J. Hasselquist, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU)
Erik A. Hobbie, University of New Hampshire, DurhamFollow
Ansgar Kahmen, Departement of Environmental Sciences - Botany
Keisuke Koba, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology
J. Marty Kranabetter, British Columbia Ministry of Forests
Michelle C. Mack, University of Florida
Erika Marin-Spiotta, University of Wisconsin
Jordan R. Mayor, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Kendra K. McLauchlan, Kansas State University
Anders Michelsen, University of Copenhagen
Gabriela B. Nardoto, Universidade de Brasília
Rafael S. Oliveira, Universidade Estadual de Campinas
Steven S. Perakis, US Geological Survey
Pablo L. Peri, Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia Austral-INTA-CONICET
Carlos A. Quesada, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazonia
Andreas Richter, University of Vienna
Louis A. Schipper, University of Waikato

Abstract

Quantifying global patterns of terrestrial nitrogen (N) cycling is central to predicting future patterns of primary productivity, carbon sequestration, nutrient fluxes to aquatic systems, and climate forcing. With limited direct measures of soil N cycling at the global scale, syntheses of the 15N:14N ratio of soil organic matter across climate gradients provide key insights into understanding global patterns of N cycling. In synthesizing data from over 6000 soil samples, we show strong global relationships among soil N isotopes, mean annual temperature (MAT), mean annual precipitation (MAP), and the concentrations of organic carbon and clay in soil. In both hot ecosystems and dry ecosystems, soil organic matter was more enriched in 15N than in corresponding cold ecosystems or wet ecosystems. Below a MAT of 9.8°C, soil δ15N was invariant with MAT. At the global scale, soil organic C concentrations also declined with increasing MAT and decreasing MAP. After standardizing for variation among mineral soils in soil C and clay concentrations, soil δ15N showed no consistent trends across global climate and latitudinal gradients. Our analyses could place new constraints on interpretations of patterns of ecosystem N cycling and global budgets of gaseous N loss.

Department

Earth Systems Research Center

Publication Date

2-6-2015

Journal Title

Scientific Reports

Publisher

Springer Nature

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep08280

Document Type

Article

Recommended Citation

Craine, J. M., A. J. Elmore, L. Wang, L. Augusto, W. T. Baisden, E. N. J. Brookshire, M. D. Cramer, N. J. Hasselquist, E. A. Hobbie, A. Kahmen, K. Koba, J. M. Kranabetter, M. C. Mack, E. Marin-Spiotta, J. R. Mayor, K. K. McLauchlan, A. Michelsen, G. B. Nardoto, R. S. Oliveira, S. S. Perakis, P. L. Peri, C. A. Quesada, A. Richter, L. A. Schipper, B. A. Stevenson, B. L. Turner, R. A. G. Viani, W. Wanek and B. Zeller. 2015. Convergence of soil nitrogen isotopes across global climate gradients. Scientific Reports 5: 8280

Comments

This is an article published by Springer Nature in Scientific Reports in 2015, available online: https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep08280