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A key question in savanna ecology is how trees and grasses coexist under N limitation. We used N stable isotopes and N content to study N source partitioning across seasons from trees and associated grasses in a semi-arid savanna. We also used N tracer additions to investigate possible redistribution of N by trees to grasses. Foliar stable N isotope ratio (δN) values were consistent with trees and grasses using mycorrhiza-supplied N in all seasons except in the wet season when they switched to microbially fixed N. The dependence of trees and grasses on mineralized soil N seemed highly unlikely based on seasonal variation in mineralization rates in the Kruger Park region. Remarkably, foliar δN values were similar for all three tree species differing in the potential for N fixation through nodulation. The tracer experiment showed that N was redistributed by trees to understory grasses in all seasons. Our results suggest that the redistribution of N from trees to grasses and uptake of N was independent of water redistribution. Although there is overlap of N sources between trees and grasses, dependence on biological sources of N coupled with redistribution of subsoil N by trees may contribute to the coexistence of trees and grasses in semi-arid savannas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nitrogen isotopes (15N/14N ratios, expressed as δ15N values) are useful markers of the mycorrhizal role in plant nitrogen supply because discrimination against 15N during creation of transfer compounds within mycorrhizal fungi decreases the 15N/14N in plants (low δ15N) and increases the 15N/14N of the fungi (high δ15N). Analytical models of 15N distribution would be helpful in interpreting δ15N patterns in fungi and plants. To compare different analytical models, we measured nitrogen isotope patterns in soils, saprotrophic fungi, ectomycorrhizal fungi, and plants with different mycorrhizal habits on a glacier foreland exposed during the last 100 years of glacial retreat and on adjacent non-glaciated terrain. Since plants during early primary succession may have only limited access to propagules of mycorrhizal fungi, we hypothesized that mycorrhizal plants would initially be similar to nonmycorrhizal plants in δ15N and then decrease, if mycorrhizal colonization were an important factor influencing plant δ15N. As hypothesized, plants with different mycorrhizal habits initially showed similar δ15N values (−4 to −6‰ relative to the standard of atmospheric N2 at 0‰), corresponding to low mycorrhizal colonization in all plant species and an absence of ectomycorrhizal sporocarps. In later successional stages where ectomycorrhizal sporocarps were present, most ectomycorrhizal and ericoid mycorrhizal plants declined by 5–6‰ in δ15N, suggesting transfer of 15N-depleted N from fungi to plants. The values recorded (−8 to −11‰) are among the lowest yet observed in vascular plants. In contrast, the δ15N of nonmycorrhizal plants and arbuscular mycorrhizal plants declined only slightly or not at all. On the forefront, most ectomycorrhizal and saprotrophic fungi were similar in δ15N (−1 to −3‰), but the host-specific ectomycorrhizal fungus Cortinarius tenebricus had values of up to 7‰. Plants, fungi and soil were at least 4‰ higher in δ15N from the mature site than in recently exposed sites. On both the forefront and the mature site, host-specific ectomycorrhizal fungi had higher δ15N values than ectomycorrhizal fungi with a broad host range. From these isotopic patterns, we conclude:(1) large enrichments in 15N of many ectomycorrhizal fungi relative to co-occurring ectomycorrhizal plants are best explained by treating the plant-fungal-soil system as a closed system with a discrimination against 15N of 8–10‰ during transfer from fungi to plants, (2) based on models of 15N mass balance, ericoid and ectomycorrhizal fungi retain up to two-thirds of the N in the plant-mycorrhizal system under the N-limited conditions at forefront sites, (3) sporocarps are probably enriched in 15N by an additional 3‰ relative to available nitrogen, and (4) host-specific ectomycorrhizal fungi may transfer more N to plant hosts than non-host-specific ectomycorrhizal fungi. Our study confirms that nitrogen isotopes are a powerful tool for probing nitrogen dynamics between mycorrhizal fungi and associated plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]