Intrapopulation variability shaping isotope discrimination and turnover: experimental evidence in arctic foxes.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Tissue-specific stable isotope signatures can provide insights into the trophic ecology of consumers and their roles in food webs. Two parameters are central for making valid inferences based on stable isotopes, isotopic discrimination (difference in isotopic ratio between consumer and its diet) and turnover time (renewal process of molecules in a given tissue usually measured when half of the tissue composition has changed). We investigated simultaneously the effects of age, sex, and diet types on the variation of discrimination and half-life in nitrogen and carbon stable isotopes (δ¹⁵N and δ¹³C, respectively) in five tissues (blood cells, plasma, muscle, liver, nail, and hair) of a top predator, the arctic fox Vulpes lagopus.

Methodology/principal findings

We fe

SUBMITTER: Lecomte N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3121787 | biostudies-literature | 2011

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature