Testing for effects of growth rate on isotope trophic discrimination factors and evaluating the performance of Bayesian stable isotope mixing models experimentally: A moment of truth?

ABSTRACT: Discerning assimilated diets of wild animals using stable isotopes is well established where potential dietary items in food webs are isotopically distinct. With the advent of mixing models, and Bayesian extensions of such models (Bayesian Stable Isotope Mixing Models, BSIMMs), statistical techniques available for these efforts have been rapidly increasing. The accuracy with which BSIMMs quantify diet, however, depends on several factors including uncertainty in tissue discrimination factors (TDFs; Δ) and identification of appropriate error structures. Whereas performance of BSIMMs has mostly been evaluated with simulations, here we test the efficacy of BSIMMs by raising domestic broiler chicks (Gallus gallus domesticus) on four isotopically distinct diets under controlled environmental co

SUBMITTER: Gurney KEB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11178173 | biostudies-literature | 2024

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature