In:
Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, Frontiers Media SA, Vol. 10 ( 2022-11-24)
Abstract:
The analyses of the stable isotope ratios of carbon (δ 13 C), nitrogen (δ 15 N), and oxygen (δ 18 O) in animal tissues are powerful tools for reconstructing the feeding behavior of individual animals and characterizing trophic interactions in food webs. Of these biomaterials, tooth enamel is the hardest, most mineralized vertebrate tissue and therefore least likely to be affected by chemical alteration (i.e., its isotopic composition can be preserved over millions of years), making it an important and widely available archive for biologists and paleontologists. Here, we present the first combined measurements of δ 13 C, δ 15 N, and δ 18 O in enamel from the teeth of modern fauna (herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores) from the well-studied ecosystem of Gorongosa National Park (GNP) in central Mozambique. We use two novel methods to produce high-precision stable isotope enamel data: (i) the “ oxidation-denitrification method,” which permits the measurement of mineral-bound organic nitrogen in tooth enamel (δ 15 N enamel ), which until now, has not been possible due to enamel’s low organic content, and (ii) the “ cold trap method ,” which greatly reduces the sample size required for traditional measurements of inorganic δ 13 C enamel and δ 18 O enamel (from ≥0.5 to ≤0.1 mg), permitting analysis of small or valuable teeth and high-resolution serial sampling of enamel. The stable isotope results for GNP fauna reveal important ecological information about the trophic level, dietary niche, and resource consumption. δ 15 N enamel values clearly differentiate trophic level (i.e., carnivore δ 15 N enamel values are 4.0‰ higher, on average, than herbivores), δ 13 C enamel values distinguish C 3 and/or C 4 biomass consumption, and δ 18 O enamel values reflect local meteoric water (δ 18 O water ) in the park. Analysis of combined carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen stable isotope data permits geochemical separation of grazers, browsers, omnivores, and carnivores according to their isotopic niche, while mixed-feeding herbivores cannot be clearly distinguished from other dietary groups. These results confirm that combined C, N, and O isotope analyses of a single aliquot of tooth enamel can be used to reconstruct diet and trophic niches. Given its resistance to chemical alteration, the analysis of these three isotopes in tooth enamel has a high potential to open new avenues of research in (paleo)ecology and paleontology.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
2296-701X
DOI:
10.3389/fevo.2022.958032
DOI:
10.3389/fevo.2022.958032.s001
DOI:
10.3389/fevo.2022.958032.s002
Language:
Unknown
Publisher:
Frontiers Media SA
Publication Date:
2022
detail.hit.zdb_id:
2745634-1
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