δ15N Value Does Not Reflect Fasting in Mysticetes
The finding that tissue δ15N values increase with protein catabolism has led researchers to apply this value to gauge nutritive condition in vertebrates. However, its application to marine mammals has in most occasions failed. We investigated the relationship between δ15N values and the fattening/fa...
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:3961314 2023-05-15T16:13:19+02:00 δ15N Value Does Not Reflect Fasting in Mysticetes Aguilar, Alex Giménez, Joan Gómez–Campos, Encarna Cardona, Luís Borrell, Asunción 2014-03-20 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3961314 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24651388 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0092288 en eng Public Library of Science http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3961314 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24651388 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0092288 This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. CC-BY Research Article Text 2014 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0092288 2014-03-30T01:41:53Z The finding that tissue δ15N values increase with protein catabolism has led researchers to apply this value to gauge nutritive condition in vertebrates. However, its application to marine mammals has in most occasions failed. We investigated the relationship between δ15N values and the fattening/fasting cycle in a model species, the fin whale, a migratory capital breeder that experiences severe seasonal variation in body condition. We analyzed two tissues providing complementary insights: one with isotopic turnover (muscle) and one that keeps a permanent record of variations in isotopic values (baleen plates). In both tissues δ15N values increased with intensive feeding but decreased with fasting, thus contradicting the pattern previously anticipated. The apparent inconsistency during fasting is explained by the fact that a) individuals migrate between different isotopic isoscapes, b) starvation may not trigger significant negative nitrogen balance, and c) excretion drops and elimination of 15N-depleted urine is minimized. Conversely, when intensive feeding is resumed in the northern grounds, protein anabolism and excretion start again, triggering 15N enrichment. It can be concluded that in whales and other mammals that accrue massive depots of lipids as energetic reserves and which have limited access to drinking water, the δ15N value is not affected by fasting and therefore cannot be used as an indicatior of nutritive condition. Text Fin whale PubMed Central (PMC) PLoS ONE 9 3 e92288 |
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Research Article Aguilar, Alex Giménez, Joan Gómez–Campos, Encarna Cardona, Luís Borrell, Asunción δ15N Value Does Not Reflect Fasting in Mysticetes |
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The finding that tissue δ15N values increase with protein catabolism has led researchers to apply this value to gauge nutritive condition in vertebrates. However, its application to marine mammals has in most occasions failed. We investigated the relationship between δ15N values and the fattening/fasting cycle in a model species, the fin whale, a migratory capital breeder that experiences severe seasonal variation in body condition. We analyzed two tissues providing complementary insights: one with isotopic turnover (muscle) and one that keeps a permanent record of variations in isotopic values (baleen plates). In both tissues δ15N values increased with intensive feeding but decreased with fasting, thus contradicting the pattern previously anticipated. The apparent inconsistency during fasting is explained by the fact that a) individuals migrate between different isotopic isoscapes, b) starvation may not trigger significant negative nitrogen balance, and c) excretion drops and elimination of 15N-depleted urine is minimized. Conversely, when intensive feeding is resumed in the northern grounds, protein anabolism and excretion start again, triggering 15N enrichment. It can be concluded that in whales and other mammals that accrue massive depots of lipids as energetic reserves and which have limited access to drinking water, the δ15N value is not affected by fasting and therefore cannot be used as an indicatior of nutritive condition. |
format |
Text |
author |
Aguilar, Alex Giménez, Joan Gómez–Campos, Encarna Cardona, Luís Borrell, Asunción |
author_facet |
Aguilar, Alex Giménez, Joan Gómez–Campos, Encarna Cardona, Luís Borrell, Asunción |
author_sort |
Aguilar, Alex |
title |
δ15N Value Does Not Reflect Fasting in Mysticetes |
title_short |
δ15N Value Does Not Reflect Fasting in Mysticetes |
title_full |
δ15N Value Does Not Reflect Fasting in Mysticetes |
title_fullStr |
δ15N Value Does Not Reflect Fasting in Mysticetes |
title_full_unstemmed |
δ15N Value Does Not Reflect Fasting in Mysticetes |
title_sort |
δ15n value does not reflect fasting in mysticetes |
publisher |
Public Library of Science |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3961314 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24651388 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0092288 |
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Fin whale |
genre_facet |
Fin whale |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3961314 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24651388 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0092288 |
op_rights |
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0092288 |
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PLoS ONE |
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9 |
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3 |
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e92288 |
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