Isotopes are an excellent way to understand things about ecosystem processes. Isotopics is an area that is constantly evolving and we strive to push the bounds of this field by developing new methods while also building upon olds one, in an effort to better understand our environment based on its isotopic signature. We use a variety of stable isotope techniques to ask both process based and global scale questions . 

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Selected publications:

• Albarracin, M. V., Six, J. W., Houlton, B. Z., and Bledsoe, C. Stoichiometry of 13C and 15N transfers in ectomycorrhizal morphotypes of Pinus sabiniana in a northern California woodland. Oecologia (2013).

• Kaiser, J., M. G. Hastings, B. Z. Houlton, T. Rockmann, and D. M. Sigman. Triple oxygen isotope analysis of nitrate using the denitrifier method and thermal decomposition of N2O. Analytical Chemistry 79:599-607 (2007).

• Houlton, B. Z., Sigman, D. M., and Hedin, L. O., Isotopic evidence for large gaseous nitrogen losses from tropical rainforests. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 103 (23), 8745-8750 (2006). ***(Gene E. Likens Award for best paper in the biogeosciences by a junior (i.e., Houlton) scientist)(Biology Faculty of 1000 selection)***