Stable Carbon and Oxygen Isotopes in Cetaceans and in Terrestrial Herbivores as Indicators of Diet, Movement and Environment: Paleoceanographic, Paleoclimatic and Paleoecologic Applications

• Other Authors: Ciner, Burcu (authoraut), Wang, Yang (professor directing dissertation), Erickson, Gregory M. (university representative), Odom, Arthur L. (committee member), Parker, William C. (committee member), Kish, Stephen A. (committee member), Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution)
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University 2013
• Subjects: Earth sciences; Oceanography; Atmospheric sciences; Geophysics; Killer Whale; Orca; Sperm whale; toothed whale; Killer whale
• Online Access: https://diginole.lib.fsu.edu/islandora/object/fsu%3A253501/datastream/TN/view/Stable%20Carbon%20and%20Oxygen%20Isotopes%20in%20Cetaceans%20and%20in%20Terrestrial%20Herbivores%20as%20Indicators%20of%20Diet,%20Movement%20and%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20Environment.jpg

Stable oxygen and carbon isotopic compositions of modern and fossil cetacean teeth and bones were analyzed to examine if and how they reflect the diet, habitat preference and migratory patterns of modern whales and to reconstruct the oxygen isotopic compositions of ancient ocean waters in the Mio-Pliocene. In addition, as a separate project, terrestrial mammal teeth and bone samples from Yushe Basin in North China were analyzed to examine long-term changes in diets and environments of mammals in the area over the past 6-7 million years to understand the development of C4 ecosystems in North China and the effects of Tibetan uplift on regional climate and ecosystems. The major results are as follows: (1) The oxygen isotopic compositions of phosphate (δ18Op) in teeth and bones from 5 different modern cetacean species including sperm whale, pygmy sperm whale, short-finned pilot whale, killer whale and Cuvier's beaked whale were analyzed. The δ18Op values range from 16.7 / to 21.3 /, averaging 19.6±1.0 / (n=89), for tooth samples, and from 15.5 / to 19.7 /, with an average of 19.0±0.9 / (n=47), for ear bone samples. The new δ18Op data, along with data compiled from literature, were used in conjunction with modern ocean δ18Osw data to examine the relationships between δ18Op and δ18Osw, yielding the following equations: Teeth: δ18Op= 19.173 + 0.9296 δ18Osw R2 = 0.8723 Bones: δ18Op = 18.109 + 0.8436 δ18Osw R2 = 0.86 The new equations, when applied to fossil teeth and bones yielded more reasonable estimates of ancient ocean water δ18O values than the original equation given in Yoshida and Miyazaki (1991). Intra-tooth isotopic variations were observed within individual teeth. Among the selected species, the killer whale (O. orca) displayed the most depleted δ18Op values (~18 /) and the largest intra-tooth δ18O variation (2.8 /), reflecting its habitat preference and migratory behavior. (2) Stable carbon and oxygen isotopic compositions of teeth and ear bones from 19 modern whales representing 4 different toothed whale ...