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The Spatial Variability of Nitrogen‐15 and its Relation to the Variability of Other Soil Properties
Author(s) -
Selles F.,
Karamanos R. E.,
Kachanoski R. G.
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
soil science society of america journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.836
H-Index - 168
eISSN - 1435-0661
pISSN - 0361-5995
DOI - 10.2136/sssaj1986.03615995005000010020x
Subject(s) - humus , spatial variability , abundance (ecology) , soil water , soil science , environmental science , nitrogen , natural abundance , composition (language) , soil test , environmental chemistry , chemistry , ecology , biology , mathematics , statistics , mass spectrometry , linguistics , philosophy , organic chemistry , chromatography
The spatial variability of natural 15 N abundance of a cultivated Chernozemic soil and its native prairie counterpart were smaller than that of total N, organic C, and the C/N ratio. Further, the number of samples required to estimate the true mean of total N with a given precision at various probability levels were twofold those required to determine the mean 15 N abundance in both soils. The variability of organic C was > 10 times that observed for total N. The results of this study indicate that the spatial variability of the natural 15 N abundance of total soil N in the surface horizons may reflect the isotopic composition of the nitrogenous substances entering the soil system or changes in the isotopic composition of soil N due to humification processes, probably induced by variations in topographic and microrelief features of the soil.