Nitrogen (N) deposition has been increasing in alpine ecosystems, but its fate in soils and plants remains unclear. We assumed that the increased N load will be efficiently retained in alpine ecosystems but that the degree of N use efficiency changes with elevation. Thus, we performed a 3-year 15N tracer experiment, in which we added 1 g m–2 of either NH415NO3 or 15NH4NO3 fertilizer to a pl…