Multi-tissue stable-isotope analyses can identify dietary specialization
Individual specialization along one or more niche axes is now recognized as an integral and ubiquitous aspect of populations. A major challenge, however, is quantifying the level of specialization using robust metrics that are applicable across species and ecosystems. Measuring stable‐isotope values...
Published in: | Methods in Ecology and Evolution |
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2016
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Online Access: | https://pure.uhi.ac.uk/en/publications/7a70b836-3355-4626-a1c9-4798d0521d1b https://doi.org/10.1111/mee3.2016.7.issue-12 http://doi.wiley.com/10.1111/2041-210X.12620 |
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ftuhipublicatio:oai:pure.atira.dk:publications/7a70b836-3355-4626-a1c9-4798d0521d1b 2024-09-09T19:25:57+00:00 Multi-tissue stable-isotope analyses can identify dietary specialization Bond, Alexander L. Jardine, Timothy D. Hobson, Keith A. Davey, Matthew 2016-12-01 https://pure.uhi.ac.uk/en/publications/7a70b836-3355-4626-a1c9-4798d0521d1b https://doi.org/10.1111/mee3.2016.7.issue-12 http://doi.wiley.com/10.1111/2041-210X.12620 eng eng https://pure.uhi.ac.uk/en/publications/7a70b836-3355-4626-a1c9-4798d0521d1b info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess Bond , A L , Jardine , T D , Hobson , K A & Davey , M (ed.) 2016 , ' Multi-tissue stable-isotope analyses can identify dietary specialization ' , Methods in Ecology and Evolution , vol. 7 , no. 12 , pp. 1428-1437 . https://doi.org/10.1111/mee3.2016.7.issue-12 article 2016 ftuhipublicatio https://doi.org/10.1111/mee3.2016.7.issue-12 2024-07-01T23:38:33Z Individual specialization along one or more niche axes is now recognized as an integral and ubiquitous aspect of populations. A major challenge, however, is quantifying the level of specialization using robust metrics that are applicable across species and ecosystems. Measuring stable‐isotope values in multiple tissues with different isotopic turnover rates could be one mechanism for quantifying specialization. We used simulation studies of stable‐isotope values to investigate how the recently proposed relative index of specialization varies in relation to variance in prey isotope values, diet–tissue discrimination factors, specialist group size and tissue half‐life, and applied specialization metrics to two systems – Australian freshwater fish and marine birds in the Canadian Arctic. In all simulations, populations comprised entirely of generalists were easily separated from those with even small amounts (5%) of individual specialization. In some cases, however, specialization measured using isotope values with bimodal distributions may appear similar to those with univariate distributions, but this can be detected by examining the original data. All fish and bird species examined showed varying degrees of individual specialization. Analysing stable isotopes in multiple tissues can provide a useful index of the degree of specialization within a population that can be compared to the same metric measured in other groups or species. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic University of the Highlands and Islands: Research Database of UHI Arctic Methods in Ecology and Evolution 7 12 |
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University of the Highlands and Islands: Research Database of UHI |
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ftuhipublicatio |
language |
English |
description |
Individual specialization along one or more niche axes is now recognized as an integral and ubiquitous aspect of populations. A major challenge, however, is quantifying the level of specialization using robust metrics that are applicable across species and ecosystems. Measuring stable‐isotope values in multiple tissues with different isotopic turnover rates could be one mechanism for quantifying specialization. We used simulation studies of stable‐isotope values to investigate how the recently proposed relative index of specialization varies in relation to variance in prey isotope values, diet–tissue discrimination factors, specialist group size and tissue half‐life, and applied specialization metrics to two systems – Australian freshwater fish and marine birds in the Canadian Arctic. In all simulations, populations comprised entirely of generalists were easily separated from those with even small amounts (5%) of individual specialization. In some cases, however, specialization measured using isotope values with bimodal distributions may appear similar to those with univariate distributions, but this can be detected by examining the original data. All fish and bird species examined showed varying degrees of individual specialization. Analysing stable isotopes in multiple tissues can provide a useful index of the degree of specialization within a population that can be compared to the same metric measured in other groups or species. |
author2 |
Davey, Matthew |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Bond, Alexander L. Jardine, Timothy D. Hobson, Keith A. |
spellingShingle |
Bond, Alexander L. Jardine, Timothy D. Hobson, Keith A. Multi-tissue stable-isotope analyses can identify dietary specialization |
author_facet |
Bond, Alexander L. Jardine, Timothy D. Hobson, Keith A. |
author_sort |
Bond, Alexander L. |
title |
Multi-tissue stable-isotope analyses can identify dietary specialization |
title_short |
Multi-tissue stable-isotope analyses can identify dietary specialization |
title_full |
Multi-tissue stable-isotope analyses can identify dietary specialization |
title_fullStr |
Multi-tissue stable-isotope analyses can identify dietary specialization |
title_full_unstemmed |
Multi-tissue stable-isotope analyses can identify dietary specialization |
title_sort |
multi-tissue stable-isotope analyses can identify dietary specialization |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
https://pure.uhi.ac.uk/en/publications/7a70b836-3355-4626-a1c9-4798d0521d1b https://doi.org/10.1111/mee3.2016.7.issue-12 http://doi.wiley.com/10.1111/2041-210X.12620 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_source |
Bond , A L , Jardine , T D , Hobson , K A & Davey , M (ed.) 2016 , ' Multi-tissue stable-isotope analyses can identify dietary specialization ' , Methods in Ecology and Evolution , vol. 7 , no. 12 , pp. 1428-1437 . https://doi.org/10.1111/mee3.2016.7.issue-12 |
op_relation |
https://pure.uhi.ac.uk/en/publications/7a70b836-3355-4626-a1c9-4798d0521d1b |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/mee3.2016.7.issue-12 |
container_title |
Methods in Ecology and Evolution |
container_volume |
7 |
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12 |
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1809895685393219584 |