Abstract

Significant changes in climate variables are predicted for many latitudes worldwide, which mainly include variations in precipitation patterns, temperature increases and CO2 concentrations; such events, commonly known as climate change, affect the metabolism of forest species, which due to their importance on earth have received special attention from the scientific community, especially in regard to the description of physiological and biochemical mechanisms involved in plants response and adaptation to abiotic stress. Several studies have been developed on this topic, some of them have used stable isotope techniques, which have allowed a better understanding of processes such as water use efficiency and gas exchange in plants, which are related to the carbon and water balance of ecosystems. The present review aims to compile some of the main advances in the use of stable isotopes in forestry science. Although the advances on this subject are significant in such aspects as the description of the origin of plants water uptake, its photosynthetic pathway, changes in the transpiration rate of forest species, the effects of climatic factors on the differential growth of their tissues, and the nitrogen origin during mineral nutrition, in the future such studies will allow a calculation and modeling of photosynthesis, a better understanding