Natural abundance of 13 C and 15 N provides evidence for plant-soil carbon and nitrogen dynamics in a N-fertilized meadow.

Natural abundance of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) stable isotope ratios (I´13 C and I´15 N) has been used to indicate ecosystem C and N status and cycling; however, use of this approach to infer plant and microbial N preference under projected ecosystem N enrichment is limited. Here, we investigated natural abundance I´13 C and I´15 N of five dominant plant species, and soil I´15 N of microbial biomass and available N forms under N addition in a meadow steppe. Additional N, applied as urea, led to decreases in I´15 N of soil NO3 - (I´15 Nnitrate , from 3.0 to 0.4‰) and increases in I´15 N of soil NH4 + (I´15 Nammonium , from -1.3 to 11‰) and dissolved organic N (I´15 NDON , from 8.5 to 15‰) that reflected increased net nitrification rates, a possible increase in NH3 volatilization, and greater availability of the three N forms. An overall increase in I´15 N of soil total N (I´15 NTN ) from 7.1 to 7.9‰ indicated accelerated and greater openness of soil N cycling that was also partially revealed by enhanced net N mineralization rates. Plant I´15 N, which ranged from -1.8 to 2.1‰, generally decreased with N addition, indicating a greater reliance on soil NO3 - under N-enrichment conditions. Nitrogen addition decreased I´15 N of microbial biomass N (from 14 to 2.8‰), possibly due to a shift in preferential N form (DON to NO3 - ), that indicated a convergence of plant and microbial preferential N forms and an increase in plant-microbial N competition. Microbes were thus more flexible than plants in the use of different forms of N. Addition of N decreased plant litter I´13 C, while plant species I´13 C remained unaffected, likely due to a shift in the abundance of dominant species with a greater proportion of biomass coming from I´13 C-depleted species. Enrichment factor (the difference in plant I´15 N relative to I´15 NTN ) of four non-legume species was negatively related to soil inorganic N availability, net nitrification rate, and net N mineralization rate, and was proven to be a good indicator of ecosystem N status. Our study highlights the importance of natural abundance of 15 N as an indicator of plant-microbial N competition and ecosystem N cycling in meadow steppe grasslands under projected ecosystem N enrichment.