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Temperature and precipitation effects on the isotopic composition of global precipitation reveal long-term climate dynamics.

ABSTRACT: Earth's climate history is traced through the long-term covariance between the isotopic (δ ¹⁸O) composition of archived meteoric waters (groundwater, ice cores) with air temperature (T) and amount of precipitation (P). To assess recent multi-decadal climatic changes, we analysed δ¹⁸O, T and P, and the relationships between these parameters at 20 stations having 60 years of continuous monthly isotopic records. Using nonparametric regressions and time series modelling we found significant linear and non-linear relationships for δ¹⁸O with T and P and showed that the δ¹⁸O dependency on these two parameters varied over decadal scales, thereby revealing complex relationships related to recycled moisture, large-scale convective processes and atmospheric-oceanic oscillations. Due to multiple factors controlling the δ ¹⁸O composition of precipitation including P and T effects, we found that time-varying relationships between δ¹⁸O in precipitation P and T were better explained using the non-linear regressions. Our results affirmed that δ¹⁸O distributions in global precipitation are integrative indicators of climate dynamics whose patterns can be applied to better understand region-specific climatic changes in the present, past, and future.

SUBMITTER: Vystavna Y

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8445972 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Temperature and precipitation effects on the isotopic composition of global precipitation reveal long-term climate dynamics.

Vystavna Y Y Matiatos I I Wassenaar L I LI

Scientific reports 20210916 1

Earth's climate history is traced through the long-term covariance between the isotopic (δ <sup>18</sup>O) composition of archived meteoric waters (groundwater, ice cores) with air temperature (T) and amount of precipitation (P). To assess recent multi-decadal climatic changes, we analysed δ<sup>18</sup>O, T and P, and the relationships between these parameters at 20 stations having 60 years of continuous monthly isotopic records. Using nonparametric regressions and time series modelling we foun ...[more]

PMID: 34531502

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Project description:Nitrogen stable isotope (15N) natural abundance is widely used to study nitrogen cycling. In grazed ecosystems, urine patches are hot-spots of nitrogen inputs, losses, and changes in δ15N. Understanding δ15N dynamics in urine-affected vegetation is therefore crucial for accurate inferences from 15N natural abundance in grasslands. We hypothesized that leaf δ15N following urine deposition varies with time and plant functional group. Specifically, we expected (i) short-term decreases in δ15N due to foliar absorption of 15N-depleted volatilized ammonia, (ii) followed by increases in δ15N due to uptake of 15N-enriched soil inorganic nitrogen, and (iii) that the magnitude of these changes is less in legumes than in grasses. The latter should be expected because ammonia absorption depends on leaf nitrogen concentration, which is higher in legumes than grasses, and because biological nitrogen fixation will modify the influence of urine-derived nitrogen on δ15N in legumes. We applied cattle urine to a mixture of Lolium perenne and Trifolium repens in a pot experiment. Nitrogen concentration and δ15N were determined for successive leaf cohorts and bulk biomass either 17 (early) or 32 (late) days after urine application. Early after urine application, leaves of L. perenne were 15N-depleted compared to control plants (δ15N 0.1 vs. 5.8‰, respectively), but leaves of T. repens were not (-1.1 vs. -1.1‰, respectively). Later, both species increased their δ15N, but T. repens (4.5‰) less so than L. perenne (5.9‰). Vegetation sampled within and outside urine patches in the field further supported these results. Our findings confirm that foliar ammonia uptake can substantially decrease grass foliar δ15N, and that in both grass and legume the direction of the δ15N response to urine changes over time. Temporal dynamics of plant δ15N at urine patches therefore need to be explicitly addressed when 15N natural abundance is used to study nitrogen cycling in grazed grasslands.

Dataset Information

Temperature and precipitation effects on the isotopic composition of global precipitation reveal long-term climate dynamics.

Publications

Temperature and precipitation effects on the isotopic composition of global precipitation reveal long-term climate dynamics.

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