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Assessment of effects of the rising atmospheric nitrogen deposition on nitrogen uptake and long‐term water‐use efficiency of plants using nitrogen and carbon stable isotopes
Author(s) -
Yao F. Y.,
Wang G. A.,
Liu X. J.,
Song L.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
rapid communications in mass spectrometry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.528
H-Index - 136
eISSN - 1097-0231
pISSN - 0951-4198
DOI - 10.1002/rcm.5048
Subject(s) - nitrogen , deposition (geology) , chemistry , isotopes of nitrogen , environmental chemistry , photosynthesis , stable isotope ratio , botany , agronomy , biology , sediment , paleontology , biochemistry , organic chemistry , physics , quantum mechanics
This study assesses the effects of the atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition on the N uptake and the long‐term water‐use efficiency of two C 3 plants ( Agropyron cristatum and Leymus chinensis ) and two C 4 plants ( Amaranthus retroflexus and Setaria viridis ) using N and C stable isotopes. In addition, this study explores the potential correlation between leaf N isotope (δ 15 N) values and leaf C isotope (δ 13 C) values. This experiment shows that the atmospheric N deposition has significant effects on the N uptake, δ 15 N and leaf N content (N m ) of C 3 plants. As the atmospheric N deposition rises, the proportion and the amount of N absorbed from the simulated atmospheric deposition become higher, and the δ 15 N and N m of the two C 3 plants both also increase, suggesting that the rising atmospheric N deposition is beneficial for C 3 plants. However, C 4 plants display different patterns in their N uptake and in their variations of δ 15 N and N m from those of C 3 plants. C 4 plants absorb less N from the atmospheric deposition, and the leaf N m does not change with the elevated atmospheric N deposition. Photosynthetic pathways may account for the differences between C 3 and C 4 plants. This study also shows that atmospheric N deposition does not play a role in determining the δ 13 C and in the long‐term water‐use efficiency of C 3 and C 4 plants, suggesting that the long‐term water‐use pattern of the plants does not change with the atmospheric N input. In addition, this study does not observe any relationship between leaf δ 15 N and leaf δ 13 C in both C 3 and C 4 plants. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.