Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Environmental Earth Sciences (2020) 79:300 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-020-09046-8 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Strontium isotope composition aided strontium and calcium sourcing in a cool temperate ecosystem, South Korea Mukesh Kumar Gautam 1,2  · Kwang‑Sik Lee 1  · Byeong‑Yeol Song 1,3 Received: 22 August 2019 / Accepted: 5 June 2020 © Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020 Abstract Atmospheric deposition and mineral weathering are important sources of base cations in vegetated ecosystems. To assess plant preferences for weathering-fed versus atmospheric-fed mineral nutrition during diferent growth stages (sapling to mature), we have studied 87 Sr/ 86 Sr isotope ratios, and Ca and Sr concentrations in the vegetation, litter, organic matter and mineral soils from fve functionally diferent species: Korean red pine, Korean chestnut, black locust, annual feabane, and silvergrass. Isotope values of vegetations (0.7124–0.7162) closely matched with that of litter (0.7143–0.7161), soil (0.7126–0.7165), and parent material (0.7161). Plant height (as a proxy for maturity) and plant functional forms did not show discriminating efect on the variation in the Sr isotope ratio. An assessment of the relative contribution of the in-situ weathering input versus the ex-situ atmospheric input using a mixing equation suggests that vegetation, irrespective of maturity, is dependent on the weathering supplied elements as a primary source of nutrients. At all the sites, the 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratio of organic layers and mineral soil were similar to the isotopic values of the vegetation, suggesting an active recycling pool and suggesting that vegetation in the region conservatively extracts nutrients from weathered parent materials, which are then internally recycled via organic layers. Keywords Plant nutrition · Strontium isotope ( 87 Sr/ 86 Sr) · Strontium · Calcium · Sr/ca ratio (Sr/Ca) · East Asia Introduction Atmospheric depositions (wet and dry depositions) and min- eral weathering are important sources of base cations in veg- etated ecosystems (Vitousek et al. 1999; Poszwa et al. 2004; Bélenger and Holmden 2010; Bedel et al. 2016; Noval et al. 2020). Discerning whether base cation biogeochemistry is dominated by weathering-derived or atmospheric-derived elements has important implications for (a) nutrient cycling of essential elements, (b) long-term ability to bufer terres- trial acidifcation, and (c) temperate ecosystems with highly weathered soils, constrained base cation supply and critical load exceedances (Kennedy et al. 1998; Bullen and Bailey 2005; Bern et al. 2005; Dasch et al. 2006; Bedel et al. 2016; Schmitt et al. 2017). Among the base cations, calcium is the largest contribu- tor to soil cation exchange complexes, providing the bulk of bufering to soil (Gautam and Lee 2016; Johnson and Lind- berg 2013). Ca provides chemical homeostasis, it is criti- cal in neutralizing acidic inputs and maintaining the health of vegetated ecosystems. Given the importance of Ca in plant processes and vegetated ecosystems, tools to track its sources, pathways, and bioavailability are essential (Blum et al. 2008; Bélanger and Holmden 2010). Over the past century, terrestrial acidifcation and consequent base cation depletion and mobilization of acidic cations have resulted in detrimental efects on vegetation health and productivity in Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-020-09046-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Mukesh Kumar Gautam mukeshcric@gmail.com * Kwang-Sik Lee kslee@kbsi.re.kr Byeong-Yeol Song songby23@gmail.com 1 Division of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Korea Basic Science Institute, Ochang, Chungbuk 363-883, Republic of Korea 2 Biology Department, Medgar Evers College, University of New York, New York, NY 11225, USA 3 Chemical Analysis Division, National Forensic Service, Wonju 220-170, Republic of Korea Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.