14
views
0
recommends
+1 Recommend
0 collections
    0
    shares
      • Record: found
      • Abstract: found
      • Article: not found

      Impact of point source pollution on nitrogen isotope signatures (δ15N) of vegetation in SE Brazil.

      Read this article at

      ScienceOpenPublisherPubMed
      Bookmark
          There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

          Abstract

          This study presents novel evidence that15N natural abundance can be used as a robust indicator to detect pollutant nitrogen in natural plant communities. Vegetation from the heavily polluted industrial area of Cubatão in São Paulo State, SE Brazil, was strongly15N depleted compared to plants at remote sites. Historic herbarium samples from Cubatão were significantly less15N depleted than extant plants, indicating that15N depletion of vegetation is associated with present-day nitrogen pollution in Cubatão. The heavy load of nitrogenous atmospheric pollutants in Cubatão provides a nitrogen source for plants, and strongly15N depleted air NH3is likely to contribute to plant and soil15N depletion. Epiphytic plants from Cubatão were extremely15N depleted (average -10.9‰) contrasting with epiphytes at remote sites (averages -1.0‰ and -3.0‰). Nitrogen isotope composition of vegetation provides a tool to determine input of pollutant nitrogen into plant communities. The strong isotopic change of epiphytes suggests that epiphytes are particularly sensitive biomonitors for atmospheric pollutant nitrogen.

          Related collections

          Author and article information

          Journal
          Oecologia
          Oecologia
          Springer Nature
          1432-1939
          0029-8549
          May 2002
          : 131
          : 3
          Affiliations
          [1 ] Faculty of Science, University of Western Australia, Nedlands WA, Australia.
          [2 ] Institute of Botany, SMA, P.B. 4005, CEP, 01061-970, São Paulo, Brazil.
          [3 ] Department of Botany IB, State University of Campinas, UNICAMP, C.P. 6109, 13083-970, Campinas, Brazil.
          [4 ] Department of Botany, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia.
          Article
          10.1007/s00442-002-0906-8
          10.1007/s00442-002-0906-8
          28547720
          ba8c29b7-b627-4ee5-acfc-3d66669d07dc
          History

          Atlantic rain forest,15N natural abundance,Epiphytes,Historic samples,Nitrogen pollution

          Comments

          Comment on this article