Arctic herbivore diet can be inferred from stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes in C 3 plants, faeces, and wool
The use of stable isotopes in diet analysis usually relies on the different photosynthetic pathways of C 3 and C 4 plants, and the resulting difference in carbon isotope signature. In the Arctic, however, plant species are exclusively C 3 , and carbon isotopes alone are therefore not suitable for st...
Published in: | Canadian Journal of Zoology |
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/z11-073 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/full-xml/10.1139/z11-073 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/z11-073 |
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crcansciencepubl:10.1139/z11-073 2024-06-23T07:49:16+00:00 Arctic herbivore diet can be inferred from stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes in C 3 plants, faeces, and wool Kristensen, D.K. Kristensen, E. Forchhammer, M.C. Michelsen, A. Schmidt, N.M. 2011 http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/z11-073 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/full-xml/10.1139/z11-073 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/z11-073 en eng Canadian Science Publishing http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining Canadian Journal of Zoology volume 89, issue 10, page 892-899 ISSN 0008-4301 1480-3283 journal-article 2011 crcansciencepubl https://doi.org/10.1139/z11-073 2024-06-13T04:10:50Z The use of stable isotopes in diet analysis usually relies on the different photosynthetic pathways of C 3 and C 4 plants, and the resulting difference in carbon isotope signature. In the Arctic, however, plant species are exclusively C 3 , and carbon isotopes alone are therefore not suitable for studying arctic herbivore diets. In this study, we examined the potential of both stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes to reconstruct the diet of an arctic herbivore, here the muskox ( Ovibos moschatus (Zimmermann, 1780)), in northeast Greenland. The isotope composition of plant communities and functional plant groups was compared with those of muskox faeces and shed wool, as this is a noninvasive approach to obtain dietary information on different temporal scales. Plants with different root mycorrhizal status were found to have different δ 15 N values, whereas differences in δ 13 C, as expected, were less distinct. As a result, our examination mainly relied on stable nitrogen isotopes. The interpretation of stable isotopes from faeces was difficult because of the large uncertainty in diet–faeces fractionation, whereas isotope signatures from wool suggested that the muskox summer diet consists of around 80% graminoids and up to 20% willows. In conclusion, the diet composition of an arctic herbivore can indeed be inferred from stable isotopes in arctic areas, despite the lack of C 4 plants. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Greenland muskox ovibos moschatus Canadian Science Publishing Arctic Greenland Canadian Journal of Zoology 89 10 892 899 |
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Canadian Science Publishing |
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crcansciencepubl |
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English |
description |
The use of stable isotopes in diet analysis usually relies on the different photosynthetic pathways of C 3 and C 4 plants, and the resulting difference in carbon isotope signature. In the Arctic, however, plant species are exclusively C 3 , and carbon isotopes alone are therefore not suitable for studying arctic herbivore diets. In this study, we examined the potential of both stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes to reconstruct the diet of an arctic herbivore, here the muskox ( Ovibos moschatus (Zimmermann, 1780)), in northeast Greenland. The isotope composition of plant communities and functional plant groups was compared with those of muskox faeces and shed wool, as this is a noninvasive approach to obtain dietary information on different temporal scales. Plants with different root mycorrhizal status were found to have different δ 15 N values, whereas differences in δ 13 C, as expected, were less distinct. As a result, our examination mainly relied on stable nitrogen isotopes. The interpretation of stable isotopes from faeces was difficult because of the large uncertainty in diet–faeces fractionation, whereas isotope signatures from wool suggested that the muskox summer diet consists of around 80% graminoids and up to 20% willows. In conclusion, the diet composition of an arctic herbivore can indeed be inferred from stable isotopes in arctic areas, despite the lack of C 4 plants. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Kristensen, D.K. Kristensen, E. Forchhammer, M.C. Michelsen, A. Schmidt, N.M. |
spellingShingle |
Kristensen, D.K. Kristensen, E. Forchhammer, M.C. Michelsen, A. Schmidt, N.M. Arctic herbivore diet can be inferred from stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes in C 3 plants, faeces, and wool |
author_facet |
Kristensen, D.K. Kristensen, E. Forchhammer, M.C. Michelsen, A. Schmidt, N.M. |
author_sort |
Kristensen, D.K. |
title |
Arctic herbivore diet can be inferred from stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes in C 3 plants, faeces, and wool |
title_short |
Arctic herbivore diet can be inferred from stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes in C 3 plants, faeces, and wool |
title_full |
Arctic herbivore diet can be inferred from stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes in C 3 plants, faeces, and wool |
title_fullStr |
Arctic herbivore diet can be inferred from stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes in C 3 plants, faeces, and wool |
title_full_unstemmed |
Arctic herbivore diet can be inferred from stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes in C 3 plants, faeces, and wool |
title_sort |
arctic herbivore diet can be inferred from stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes in c 3 plants, faeces, and wool |
publisher |
Canadian Science Publishing |
publishDate |
2011 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/z11-073 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/full-xml/10.1139/z11-073 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/z11-073 |
geographic |
Arctic Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Greenland |
genre |
Arctic Greenland muskox ovibos moschatus |
genre_facet |
Arctic Greenland muskox ovibos moschatus |
op_source |
Canadian Journal of Zoology volume 89, issue 10, page 892-899 ISSN 0008-4301 1480-3283 |
op_rights |
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1139/z11-073 |
container_title |
Canadian Journal of Zoology |
container_volume |
89 |
container_issue |
10 |
container_start_page |
892 |
op_container_end_page |
899 |
_version_ |
1802639582149214208 |