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Foliar nitrogen isotope (δN) composition patterns have been linked to soil N, mycorrhizal fractionation, and within-plant fractionations. However, few studies have examined the potential importance of the direct foliar uptake of gaseous reactive N on foliar δN. Using an experimental set-up in which the rate of mycorrhizal infection was reduced using a fungicide, we examined the influence of mycorrhizae on foliar δN in potted red maple ( Acer rubrum) seedlings along a regional N deposition gradient in New York State. Mycorrhizal associations altered foliar δN values in red maple seedlings from 0.06 to 0.74 ‰ across sites. At the same sites, we explored the predictive roles of direct foliar N uptake, soil δN, and mycorrhizae on foliar δN in adult stands of A. rubrum, American beech ( Fagus grandifolia), black birch ( Betula lenta), and red oak ( Quercus rubra). Multiple regression analysis indicated that ambient atmospheric nitrogen dioxide (NO) concentration explained 0, 69, 23, and 45 % of the variation in foliar δN in American beech, red maple, red oak, and black birch, respectively, after accounting for the influence of soil δN. There was no correlation between foliar δC and foliar %N with increasing atmospheric NO concentration in most species. Our findings suggest that total canopy uptake, and likely direct foliar N uptake, of pollution-derived atmospheric N deposition may significantly impact foliar δN in several dominant species occurring in temperate forest ecosystems. [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]