Stable isotopes and traceability of geographical origin of biological matrices

Some applications and uses of stable isotopes I. Tracing studies: Nitrogen cycling: To investigate nitrogen cycling in crop plants Physiological tracing: Medical researchers use 13C as a noninvasive alternative to 14C for analyzing metabolic processes. 13C-labeled compounds metabolize to 13CO2, which is detectable in the breath. Ecosistem fluxes (e.g., deconvolution of gross into net CO2 fluxes) II. Fractionation studies: Nitrogen fixation Photosynthesis and carbon cycling, paleo-climatic studies, dendrophysiology III. Archaeological investigations: The characteristic isotope-ratio "signatures" of food species are passed on to consumers. IV. Correction of carbon-14 dates: Since carbon is strongly fractionated by biological processes, it is not possible to date ancient carbon-bearing material by the carbon-14 method without taking this fractionation into account V. Forensic studies: criminology fraud detectionfood traceability and authentication