Articles | Volume 7, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-7-83-2021
https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-7-83-2021
Original research article
 | 
30 Mar 2021
Original research article |  | 30 Mar 2021

Stable isotope signatures of soil nitrogen on an environmental–geomorphic gradient within the Congo Basin

Simon Baumgartner, Marijn Bauters, Matti Barthel, Travis W. Drake, Landry C. Ntaboba, Basile M. Bazirake, Johan Six, Pascal Boeckx, and Kristof Van Oost

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Cited articles

Alvarez-Clare, S., Mack, M. C., and Brooks, M.: A direct test of nitrogen and phosphorus limitation to net primary productivity in a lowland tropical wet forest, Ecology, 94, 1540–1551, https://doi.org/10.1890/12-2128.1, 2013. 
Amundson, R., Austin, A. T., Schuur, E. A. G., Yoo, K., Matzek, V., Kendall, C., Uebersax, A., Brenner, D., and Baisden, W. T.: Global patterns of the isotopic composition of soil and plant nitrogen, Global Biogeochem. Cy., 17, 1, https://doi.org/10.1029/2002GB001903, 2003. 
Angelini, M. E., Heuvelink, B. M., and Kempen, B.: Multivariate mapping of soil with structural equation modelling, Eur. J. Soil Sci., 68, 575–591, https://doi.org/10.1111/ejss.12446, 2017. 
Asner, G. P., Anderson, C. B., Martin, R. E., Tupayachi, R., Knapp, D. E., and Sinca, F.: Landscape biogeochemistry reflected in shifting distributions of chemical traits in the Amazon forest canopy, Nat. Geosci., 8, 567–575, https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2443, 2015. 
Austin, A. T. and Vitousek, P. M.: Nutrient dynamics on a precipitation gradient in Hawai'i, Oecologia, 113, 519–529, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-78568-9_6, 1998. 
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Short summary
We compared stable isotope signatures of soil profiles in different forest ecosystems within the Congo Basin to assess ecosystem-level differences in N cycling, and we examined the local effect of topography on the isotopic signature of soil N. Soil δ15N profiles indicated that the N cycling in in the montane forest is more closed, whereas the lowland forest and Miombo woodland experienced a more open N cycle. Topography only alters soil δ15N values in forests with high erosional forces.
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