Natural 15N abundance measurements of ecosystem nitrogen (N) pools and 15N pool dilution assays of gross N transformation rates were applied to investigate the potential of δ15N signatures of soil N pools to reflect the dynamics in the forest soil N cycle. Intact soil cores were collected from pure spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) and mixed spruce-beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) stands on stagnic gleysol in Austria. Soil δ15N values of both forest sites increased with depth to 50 cm, but then decreased below this zone. δ15N values of microbial biomass (mixed stand: 4.7 ء 0.8‰, spruce stand: 5.9 ء 0.9‰) and of dissolved organic N (DON; mixed stand: 5.3 ء 1.7‰, spruce stand: 2.6 ء 3.3‰) were not significantly different; these pools were most enriched in 15N of all soil N pools. Denitrification represented the main N2O-producing process in the mixed forest stand as we detected a significant 15N enrichment of its substrate NO3− (3.6 ء 4.5‰) compared to NH4+ (−4.6 ء 2.6‰) and its product N2O (−11.8 ء 3.2‰). In a 15N-labelling experiment in the spruce stand, nitrification contributed more to N2O production than denitrification. Moreover, in natural abundance measurements the NH4+ pool was slightly 15N-enriched (−0.4 ء 2.0 ‰) compared to NO3− (−3.0 ء 0.6 ‰) and N2O (−2.1 ء 1.1 ‰) in the spruce stand, indicating nitrification and denitrification operated in parallel to produce N2O. The more positive δ15N values of N2O in the spruce stand than in the mixed stand point to extensive microbial N2O reduction in the spruce stand. Combining natural 15N abundance and 15N tracer experiments provided a more complete picture of soil N dynamics than possible with either measurement done separately.
