Field studies analyzing the stable isotope composition of xylem water are providing important information on ecosystem water relations. However, the capacity of stable isotopes to characterize the functioning of plants in their environment has not been fully explored because of methodological constraints on the extent and resolution at which samples could be collected and analysed. Here, we introduce an in situ method offering the potential to continuously monitor the stable isotope composition of tree xylem water via its vapour phase using a commercial laser-based isotope analyser and compact microporous probes installed into the xylem. Our technique enables efficient high-frequency measurement with intervals of only a few minutes per sample while eliminating the need for costly and cumbersome destructive collection of plant material and laboratory-based processing. We present field observations of xylem water hydrogen and oxygen isotope compositions obtained over several days including a labelled irrigation event and compare them against results from concurrent destructive sampling with cryogenic distillation and mass spectrometric analysis. The data demonstrate that temporal changes as well as spatial patterns of integration in xylem water isotope composition can be resolved through direct measurement. The new technique can therefore present a valuable tool to study the hydraulic architecture and water utilization of trees.
Abstract:The vadose zone plays a crucial role in the water cycle for storing water, providing water to vegetation and transporting solutes or degrading contaminants. Earth scientists have long acknowledged the importance of the vadose zone, and numerous methods have been developed to better understand and predict hydrological processes within this 'critical zone'. For several decades, stable isotopes ( 18 O and 2 H) of pore water have been used as environmental tracers to gain insights into vadose zone water movement and other processes. To determine the pore water stable isotopic composition, various sampling procedures have been developed. We present the procedure and the accompanied advantages and drawbacks of each method. We further discuss possible opportunities and limitations regarding the scale of interest and the pore space that is sampled. The methodological review reveals that the choice of sampling method is crucial for the interpretation of pore water stable isotopes in the vadose zone, but a thorough comparison between the different methods is yet missing. Spiking experiments, where water of known isotopic composition is added to ovendried soil, have been shown to be questionable, as the extracted water is usually depleted compared with the standard water. A comparative study analysing soil samples with the recently developed direct water vapour equilibration method and the widely used cryogenic extraction shows deviations, which can only be partly explained, but discloses the need for a more thorough experimental comparative study. Especially promising are developments of continuous isotope measurements based on laserbased spectrometry that will open up new opportunities for analysing pore water isotopes with higher temporal and spatial resolutions, revealing new insights into hydrological processes across various temporal and spatial scales.
Abstract. For more than two decades, research groups in hydrology, ecology, soil science, and biogeochemistry have performed cryogenic water extractions (CWEs) for the analysis of δ2H and δ18O of soil water. Recent studies have shown that extraction conditions (time, temperature, and vacuum) along with physicochemical soil properties may affect extracted soil water isotope composition. Here we present results from the first worldwide round robin laboratory intercomparison. We test the null hypothesis that, with identical soils, standards, extraction protocols, and isotope analyses, cryogenic extractions across all laboratories are identical. Two standard soils with different physicochemical characteristics along with deionized (DI) reference water of known isotopic composition were shipped to 16 participating laboratories. Participants oven-dried and rewetted the soils to 8 and 20 % gravimetric water content (WC), using the deionized reference water. One batch of soil samples was extracted via predefined extraction conditions (time, temperature, and vacuum) identical to all laboratories; the second batch was extracted via conditions considered routine in the respective laboratory. All extracted water samples were analyzed for δ18O and δ2H by the lead laboratory (Global Institute for Water Security, GIWS, Saskatoon, Canada) using both a laser and an isotope ratio mass spectrometer (OA-ICOS and IRMS, respectively). We rejected the null hypothesis. Our results showed large differences in retrieved isotopic signatures among participating laboratories linked to soil type and soil water content with mean differences compared to the reference water ranging from +18.1 to −108.4 ‰ for δ2H and +11.8 to −14.9 ‰ for δ18O across all laboratories. In addition, differences were observed between OA-ICOS and IRMS isotope data. These were related to spectral interferences during OA-ICOS analysis that are especially problematic for the clayey loam soils used. While the types of cryogenic extraction lab construction varied from manifold systems to single chambers, no clear trends between system construction, applied extraction conditions, and extraction results were found. Rather, observed differences in the isotope data were influenced by interactions between multiple factors (soil type and properties, soil water content, system setup, extraction efficiency, extraction system leaks, and each lab's internal accuracy). Our results question the usefulness of cryogenic extraction as a standard for water extraction since results are not comparable across laboratories. This suggests that defining any sort of standard extraction procedure applicable across laboratories is challenging. Laboratories might have to establish calibration functions for their specific extraction system for each natural soil type, individually.
[1] We developed a method to measure in situ the isotopic composition of liquid water with minimal supervision and, most important, with a temporal resolution of less than a minute. For this purpose a microporous hydrophobic membrane contactor (Membrana) was combined with an isotope laser spectrometer (Picarro). The contactor, originally designed for degassing liquids, was used with N 2 as a carrier gas in order to transform a small fraction of liquid water to water vapor. The generated water vapor was then analyzed continuously by the Picarro analyzer. To prove the membrane's applicability, we determined the specific isotope fractionation factor for the phase change through the contactor's membrane across an extended temperature range (8 C-21 C) and with different waters of known isotopic compositions. This fractionation factor is needed to subsequently derive the liquid water isotope ratio from the measured water vapor isotope ratios. The system was tested with a soil column experiment, where the isotope values derived with the new method corresponded well (R 2 ¼ 0.998 for d 18O and R 2 ¼ 0.997 for d 2 H) with those of liquid water samples taken simultaneously and analyzed with a conventional method (cavity ring-down spectroscopy). The new method supersedes taking liquid samples and employs only relatively cheap and readily available components. This makes it a relatively inexpensive, fast, user-friendly, and easily reproducible method. It can be applied in both the field and laboratory wherever a water vapor isotope analyzer can be run and whenever real-time isotope data of liquid water are required at high temporal resolution.
Recently, laser-based water stable isotope spectrometers have become popular as they enable previously impossible approaches of environmental observations. Consequently, they have been subjected to increasingly heterogeneous atmospheric conditions. However, there is still a severe lack of data on the impact of nonstandardized gas matrices on analyzer performances. Against this background, we investigated the influence of changing proportions of N2, O2, and CO2 in the carrier gas on the isotope measurements of a typical laser-based water stable isotope analyzer (Picarro L2120-i). We combined environmentally relevant mixtures of N2, O2, and CO2 with referenced, flash-evaporated water and found that isotope readings of the same water were altered by up to +14.57‰ for δ(18)O and -35.9‰ for δ(2)H. All tested relationships between carrier gas changes and respective isotope readings were strongly linearly correlated (R(2) > 0.99). Furthermore, an analyzer-measured variable allowed for reliable postcorrection of the biased isotope readings, which we additionally tested on field data. Our findings are of importance for environmental data obtained by analyzers based on the same technology. They are relevant for assays where inconsistent gas matrices or a mismatch in this regard between unknown and reference analyses cannot be excluded, which is in particular common when investigating the soil-vegetation-atmosphere continuum.
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