Preface "Stable Isotopes and Biogeochemical Cycles in Terrestrial Ecosystems''

In view of a rapidly changing environment there is the to better understand the response of ecosystems to changes of climate and land use. While there are substantial efforts in monitoring fluxes of carbon (C), and nitrogen (N) between ecosystems and their environment (e.g. Baldocchi, 2008; Sutton et al., 2012), there still an insufficient understanding of the processes underpinning cycles at the interfaces between atmosphere, , soil and microbes. One important field that increasing attention concerns plant – soil interactions (see also recent special issue, Subke et al., 2012), whose has so far been limited by considerable methodological , in particular in terms of the soil compartment.