Increasing plant use of organic nitrogen with elevation is reflected in nitrogen uptake rates and ecosystem δ15N

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It is hypothesized that decreasing mean annual temperature and rates of nitrogen (N) cycling causes plants to switch from inorganic to organic forms of N as the primary mode of N nutrition. To test this hypothesis, we conducted field experiments and collected natural-abundance delta15N signatures of foliage, soils, and ectomycorrhizal sporocarps along a steep elevation-climate gradient in the White Mountains, New Hampshire, USA. Here we show that with increasing elevation organic forms of N became the dominant source of N taken up by hardwood and coniferous tree species based on dual-labeled glycine uptake analysis, an important confirmation of an emerging theory for the biogeochemistry of the N cycle. Variation in natural abundance foliar delta15N with elevation was also consistent with increasing organic N uptake, though a simple, mass balance model demonstrated that the uptake of delta15N depleted inorganic N, rather than fractionation upon transfer of N from mycorrhizal fungi, best explains variations in foliar delta15N with elevation.