Differentiating aquatic mammal habitat and foraging ecology with stable isotopes in tooth enamel

Oecologia ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 129 (3) ◽  
pp. 461-472 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark T. Clementz ◽  
Paul L. Koch
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotopes ◽  
Foraging Ecology ◽  
Tooth Enamel ◽  
Aquatic Mammal

Historic foraging ecology of the endangered Lahille's bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus gephyreus) inferred by stable isotopes

2021 ◽  
pp. 107393
Author(s):  
Andrea Campos-Rangel ◽  
Ricardo Bastida ◽  
Pedro Fruet ◽  
Paula Laporta ◽  
Humberto Luis Cappozzo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotopes ◽  
Bottlenose Dolphin ◽  
Tursiops Truncatus ◽  
Foraging Ecology

Stable isotopes of modern herbivore tooth enamel in the Tibetan Plateau: Implications for paleoelevation reconstructions

2009 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiang Xu ◽  
Lin Ding ◽  
LiYun Zhang ◽  
Di Yang ◽  
FuLong Cai ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotopes ◽  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Tooth Enamel ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau

Bulk and intra-tooth enamel stable isotopes of waterbuckKobus ellipsiprymnusfrom Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda

2008 ◽  
Vol 46 (4) ◽  
pp. 697-701 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandi R. Copeland ◽  
Matt Sponheimer ◽  
Clive A. Spinage ◽  
Julia A. Lee-Thorp
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotopes ◽  
National Park ◽  
Tooth Enamel

scholarly journals Life histories and niche dynamics in late Quaternary proboscideans from Midwestern North America: evidence from stable isotope analyses

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Widga ◽  
Greg Hodgins ◽  
Kayla Kolis ◽  
Stacey Lengyel ◽  
Jeff Saunders ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotopes ◽  
Stable Isotope ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Tooth Enamel ◽  
Late Quaternary ◽  
Niche Overlap ◽  
Bone Collagen ◽  
Mobility Patterns ◽  
Glacial Cycle ◽  
Last Interglacial

ABSTRACTStable isotopes of mammoths and mastodons have the potential to illuminate ecological changes in late Pleistocene landscapes and megafaunal populations as these species approached extinction. The ecological factors at play in this extinction remain unresolved, but isotopes of bone collagen (δ13C, δ15N) and tooth enamel (δ13C, δ18O, 87Sr/86Sr) from the Midwest, USA are leveraged to examine ecological and behavioral changes that occurred during the last interglacial-glacial cycle. Both species had significant C3 contributions to their diets and experienced increasing levels of niche overlap as they approached extinction. A subset of mastodons after the last glacial maximum (LGM) exhibit low δ15N values that may represent expansion into a novel ecological niche, perhaps densely occupied by other herbivores. Stable isotopes from serial and micro-sampled enamel show increasing seasonality and decreasing temperatures as mammoths transitioned from Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5e to glacial conditions (MIS 4, MIS 3, MIS 2). Isotopic variability in enamel suggests mobility patterns and life histories have potentially large impacts on the interpretation of their stable isotope ecology. This study further refines the ecology of midwestern mammoths and mastodons demonstrating increasing seasonality and niche overlap as they responded to landscape changes in the final millennia before extinction.

Stable Isotopes

Anthropology ◽  
2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Bartelink
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotopes ◽  
Stable Isotope ◽  
Stable Isotope Analysis ◽  
Hydrological Cycle ◽  
Tooth Enamel ◽  
Isotope Analysis ◽  
Serial Sections ◽  
Major Area ◽  
Travel History ◽  
Mineral Fraction

Stable isotope analysis refers broadly to a series of chemical methods used to study phenomena such as earth systems, the hydrological cycle, and ecology. The use of stable isotopes in anthropology traces its beginnings to the late 1970s. Originally focused on geological, hydrological, and ecological problems, stable isotope analysis now is a major component of the anthropologist’s toolkit. Current applications within anthropology draw from the core scientific disciplines but adapt these methods for specific research questions within archaeology, bioarchaeology, paleoanthropology, and forensic anthropology. One major area of study is dietary reconstruction, which focuses on isotope analysis of human skeletons to examine temporal and regional dietary patterns, as well as variation associated with sex, age, mortuary patterns, and social status. More specialized approaches examine weaning and childhood diet patterns using serial sections of tooth enamel and dentin. Another major area of isotope research in anthropology is the study of past residence patterns (e.g., migration and mobility). Some stable isotopes record information about the local water and geology, and thus provide information regarding the place of origin or travel history of an individual. By examining multiple isotopes in different tissues, anthropologists can reconstruct changes in residence patterns. For example, isotopes in enamel bioapatite (mineral fraction) do not change throughout life, so teeth provide a record of where a person lived when a particular tooth formed. Bone collagen (organic fraction) and bioapatite (mineral fraction), in contrast, are constantly replaced through remodeling; thus, if a person moved to a new geographic region, the isotope values in their bones will shift toward the new location over time. By comparing the isotopes in teeth versus bones, anthropologists can detect whether a person was local or nonlocal to the area where they died. In instances where hair or nails are preserved (e.g., mummies, modern forensic cases), serial sections of these tissues can be used to provide a detailed record of diet or travel history in the months prior to death. More recently, forensic anthropologists have begun to examine stable isotopes in modern human remains to aid with medicolegal identification. These methods are especially useful when a decedent is nonlocal to the area where they died (for example, a recent traveler or foreign-born individual).

Life histories and niche dynamics in late Quaternary proboscideans from midwestern North America

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Chris Widga ◽  
Greg Hodgins ◽  
Kayla Kolis ◽  
Stacey Lengyel ◽  
Jeff Saunders ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotopes ◽  
North America ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Tooth Enamel ◽  
Late Quaternary ◽  
Niche Overlap ◽  
Bone Collagen ◽  
Mobility Patterns ◽  
Glacial Cycle ◽  
Last Interglacial

Abstract Stable isotopes of mammoths and mastodons have the potential to illuminate ecological changes in late Pleistocene landscapes and megafaunal populations as these species approached extinction. The ecological factors at play in this extinction remain unresolved, but isotopes of bone collagen (δ13C, δ15N) and tooth enamel (δ13C, δ18O, 87Sr/86Sr) from midwestern North America are leveraged to examine ecological and behavioral changes that occurred during the last interglacial-glacial cycle. Both species had significant C3 contributions to their diets and experienced increasing levels of niche overlap as they approached extinction. A subset of mastodons after the last glacial maximum exhibit low δ15N values that may represent expansion into a novel ecological niche, perhaps densely occupied by other herbivores. Stable isotopes from serial and microsampled enamel show increasing seasonality and decreasing temperatures as mammoths transitioned from Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5e to glacial conditions (MIS 4, MIS 3, MIS 2). Isotopic variability in enamel suggests mobility patterns and life histories have potentially large impacts on the interpretation of their stable isotope ecology. This study further refines the ecology of midwestern mammoths and mastodons demonstrating increasing seasonality and niche overlap as they responded to landscape changes in the final millennia before extinction.

scholarly journals Chimpanzee fauna isotopes provide new interpretations of fossil ape and hominin ecologies

2013 ◽  
Vol 280 (1773) ◽  
pp. 20132324 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sherry V. Nelson
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotopes ◽  
Oxygen Isotopes ◽  
National Park ◽  
Forest Canopy ◽  
Tooth Enamel ◽  
Kibale National Park ◽  
Associated Fauna ◽  
Oxygen Stable Isotopes ◽  
Isotopic Analyses ◽  
Early Hominin

Carbon and oxygen stable isotopes within modern and fossil tooth enamel record the aspects of an animal's diet and habitat use. This investigation reports the first isotopic analyses of enamel from a large chimpanzee community and associated fauna, thus providing a means of comparing fossil ape and early hominin palaeoecologies with those of a modern ape. Within Kibale National Park forest, oxygen isotopes differentiate primate niches, allowing for the first isotopic reconstructions of degree of frugivory versus folivory as well as use of arboreal versus terrestrial resources. In a comparison of modern and fossil community isotopic profiles, results indicate that Sivapithecus , a Miocene ape from Pakistan, fed in the forest canopy, as do chimpanzees, but inhabited a forest with less continuous canopy or fed more on leaves. Ardipithecus , an early hominin from Ethiopia, fed both arboreally and terrestrially in a more open habitat than inhabited by chimpanzees.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document