Animal waste-produced nitrate in streams can be detected with natural abundance nitrogen isotopes even when stream nitrate concentrations are low and derive predominantly from natural soil nitrate sources. The objective of this limited study was to demonstrate the utility of such an approach with a minimal number of samples and minimal supporting data. These constraints are important in terms of the usefulness of the small-scale isotopic approach as a component of long-term, large-scale watershed and river basin monitoring, given the expense of nitrate isotopic measurements. The study was able to identify a small animal waste nitrate export signal over a significant background signal of soil nitrate and possible fertilizer nitrate in the stream draining the site.
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