Fine-scale whisker growth measurements can reveal temporal foraging patterns from stable isotope signatures
Stable isotope analysis of slow-growing, metabolically inert tissues is a common method for investigating foraging ecology in migratory animals, as direct observations of feeding are often not possible. Using tissue growth dynamics to interpret foraging timelines can maximize the utility of foraging...
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ftcdlib:oai:escholarship.org/ark:/13030/qt78x6c1tv 2023-05-15T16:05:18+02:00 Fine-scale whisker growth measurements can reveal temporal foraging patterns from stable isotope signatures Beltran, RS Sadou, MC Condit, R Peterson, SH Reichmuth, C Costa, DP 2015-03-16 application/pdf https://escholarship.org/uc/item/78x6c1tv unknown eScholarship, University of California qt78x6c1tv https://escholarship.org/uc/item/78x6c1tv public Vibrissae Whisker Asymptotic growth rate Stable isotope Seal Marine Biology & Hydrobiology Oceanography Ecology Zoology article 2015 ftcdlib 2021-12-06T18:17:51Z Stable isotope analysis of slow-growing, metabolically inert tissues is a common method for investigating foraging ecology in migratory animals, as direct observations of feeding are often not possible. Using tissue growth dynamics to interpret foraging timelines can maximize the utility of foraging data; however, applying inappropriate growth models is problematic, and high-resolution growth measurements are seldom made. We used photogrammetry to repeatedly measure the length of whiskers in 93 follicles over 670 d in a trained, captive northern elephant seal Mirounga angustirostris. We developed and optimized a follicle-specific growth model to describe the 18 000 whisker length measurements. Whiskers from the captive seal exhibited asymptotic growth that was described by the von Bertalanffy growth function. Applying the growth model to serially sampled whiskers from 4 free-ranging adult female northern elephant seals resulted in alignment of peaks in °15N along the length of whiskers with the breeding haul-out period, when seals are not feeding. Our study provides a high-resolution whisker growth model and is the first to use whisker growth dynamics to improve temporal interpretation of isotopic ratios. Article in Journal/Newspaper Elephant Seal Elephant Seals University of California: eScholarship |
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Open Polar |
collection |
University of California: eScholarship |
op_collection_id |
ftcdlib |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Vibrissae Whisker Asymptotic growth rate Stable isotope Seal Marine Biology & Hydrobiology Oceanography Ecology Zoology |
spellingShingle |
Vibrissae Whisker Asymptotic growth rate Stable isotope Seal Marine Biology & Hydrobiology Oceanography Ecology Zoology Beltran, RS Sadou, MC Condit, R Peterson, SH Reichmuth, C Costa, DP Fine-scale whisker growth measurements can reveal temporal foraging patterns from stable isotope signatures |
topic_facet |
Vibrissae Whisker Asymptotic growth rate Stable isotope Seal Marine Biology & Hydrobiology Oceanography Ecology Zoology |
description |
Stable isotope analysis of slow-growing, metabolically inert tissues is a common method for investigating foraging ecology in migratory animals, as direct observations of feeding are often not possible. Using tissue growth dynamics to interpret foraging timelines can maximize the utility of foraging data; however, applying inappropriate growth models is problematic, and high-resolution growth measurements are seldom made. We used photogrammetry to repeatedly measure the length of whiskers in 93 follicles over 670 d in a trained, captive northern elephant seal Mirounga angustirostris. We developed and optimized a follicle-specific growth model to describe the 18 000 whisker length measurements. Whiskers from the captive seal exhibited asymptotic growth that was described by the von Bertalanffy growth function. Applying the growth model to serially sampled whiskers from 4 free-ranging adult female northern elephant seals resulted in alignment of peaks in °15N along the length of whiskers with the breeding haul-out period, when seals are not feeding. Our study provides a high-resolution whisker growth model and is the first to use whisker growth dynamics to improve temporal interpretation of isotopic ratios. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Beltran, RS Sadou, MC Condit, R Peterson, SH Reichmuth, C Costa, DP |
author_facet |
Beltran, RS Sadou, MC Condit, R Peterson, SH Reichmuth, C Costa, DP |
author_sort |
Beltran, RS |
title |
Fine-scale whisker growth measurements can reveal temporal foraging patterns from stable isotope signatures |
title_short |
Fine-scale whisker growth measurements can reveal temporal foraging patterns from stable isotope signatures |
title_full |
Fine-scale whisker growth measurements can reveal temporal foraging patterns from stable isotope signatures |
title_fullStr |
Fine-scale whisker growth measurements can reveal temporal foraging patterns from stable isotope signatures |
title_full_unstemmed |
Fine-scale whisker growth measurements can reveal temporal foraging patterns from stable isotope signatures |
title_sort |
fine-scale whisker growth measurements can reveal temporal foraging patterns from stable isotope signatures |
publisher |
eScholarship, University of California |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/78x6c1tv |
genre |
Elephant Seal Elephant Seals |
genre_facet |
Elephant Seal Elephant Seals |
op_relation |
qt78x6c1tv https://escholarship.org/uc/item/78x6c1tv |
op_rights |
public |
_version_ |
1766401210054606848 |