Chin J Plant Ecol ›› 2020, Vol. 44 ›› Issue (4): 373-383.DOI: 10.17521/cjpe.2019.0249

Special Issue: 稳定同位素生态学 生态学研究的技术和方法

• Reviews • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Applications of nitrogen stable isotope techniques in the study of nitrogen cycling in terrestrial ecosystems

FANG Yun-Ting1,2,3,*(),LIU Dong-Wei1,2,3,ZHU Fei-Fei1,2,3,TU Ying1,3,4,LI Shan-Long1,2,HUANG Shao-Nan1,3,4,QUAN Zhi1,2,3,WANG Ang1,2,3   

  1. 1Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Management, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016
    2Qingyuan Forest CERN, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016 China
    3Key Laboratory of Stable Isotope Techniques and Applications, Liaoning Province, Shenyang, 110016
    4University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
  • Received:2019-09-25 Accepted:2020-01-16 Online:2020-04-20 Published:2020-03-26
  • Contact: FANG Yun-Ting
  • Supported by:
    National Key R&D Program of China(2016YFA0600802);National Natural Science Foundation of China(41773094);Key Research Program of Frontier Sciences of Chinese Academy of Sciences(QYZDB-SSW-DQC002);K.C.Wong Education Foundation(GJTD-2018-07)

Abstract:

In the past several decades, the development of nitrogen (N) stable isotope techniques has improved the understanding of N cycling in terrestrial ecosystems. This review briefly introduced the history of N stable isotope techniques in studying N cycling in terrestrial ecosystems and summarized typical studies focusing on different aspects of ecosystem N cycling in recent years, including using 1) 15N natural abundance to identify plant N sources, indicate N status of ecosystems, and quantify N transformation rates; 2) 15N enriched tracers to study N fates, redistribution and gaseous loss from ecosystems. In the end, this review points out challenges and future applications of N stable isotope techniques on studying N cycling in terrestrial ecosystems.

Key words: nitrogen stable isotope technique, natural abundance technique, 15N labelling technique