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Zinc isotopes from archaeological bones provide reliable tropic level information for marine mammals.

ABSTRACT: In marine ecology, dietary interpretations of faunal assemblages often rely on nitrogen isotopes as the main or only applicable trophic level tracer. We investigate the geographic variability and trophic level isotopic discrimination factors of bone zinc ⁶⁶Zn/⁶⁴Zn ratios (δ⁶⁶Zn value) and compared it to collagen nitrogen and carbon stable isotope (δ¹⁵N and δ¹³C) values. Focusing on ringed seals (Pusa hispida) and polar bears (Ursus maritimus) from multiple Arctic archaeological sites, we investigate trophic interactions between predator and prey over a broad geographic area. All proxies show variability among sites, influenced by the regional food web baselines. However, δ⁶⁶Zn shows a significantly higher homogeneity among different sites. We observe a clear trophic spacing for δ¹⁵N and δ⁶⁶Zn values in all locations, yet δ⁶⁶Zn analysis allows a more direct dietary comparability between spatially and temporally distinct locations than what is possible by δ¹⁵N and δ¹³C analysis alone. When combining all three proxies, a more detailed and refined dietary analysis is possible.

SUBMITTER: McCormack J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8175341 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Zinc isotopes from archaeological bones provide reliable tropic level information for marine mammals.

McCormack Jeremy J Szpak Paul P Bourgon Nicolas N Richards Michael M Hyland Corrie C Méjean Pauline P Hublin Jean-Jacques JJ Jaouen Klervia K

Communications biology 20210603 1

In marine ecology, dietary interpretations of faunal assemblages often rely on nitrogen isotopes as the main or only applicable trophic level tracer. We investigate the geographic variability and trophic level isotopic discrimination factors of bone zinc 66Zn/64Zn ratios (δ66Zn value) and compared it to collagen nitrogen and carbon stable isotope (δ15N and δ13C) values. Focusing on ringed seals (Pusa hispida) and polar bears (Ursus maritimus ...[more]

PMID: 34083709

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Project description:Advancements in molecular science are continually improving our knowledge of marine turtle biology and evolution. However, there are still considerable gaps in our understanding, such as past marine turtle distributions, which can benefit from advanced zooarchaeological analyses. Here, we apply collagen fingerprinting to 130 archaeological marine turtle bone samples up to approximately 2500 years old from the Caribbean and Florida's Gulf Coast for faunal identification, finding the vast majority of samples (88%) to contain preserved collagen despite deposition in the tropics. All samples can be identified to species-level with the exception of the Kemp's ridley (Lepidochelys kempii) and olive ridley (L. olivacea) turtles, which can be separated to genus level, having diverged from one another only approximately 5 Ma. Additionally, we identify a single homologous peptide that allows the separation of archaeological green turtle samples, Chelonia spp., into two distinct groups, which potentially signifies a difference in genetic stock. The majority of the archaeological samples are identified as green turtle (Chelonia spp.; 63%), with hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata; 17%) and ridley turtles (Lepidochelys spp.; 3%) making up smaller proportions of the assemblage. There were no molecular identifications of the loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) in the assemblage despite 9% of the samples being morphologically identified as such, highlighting the difficulties in relying on morphological identifications alone in archaeological remains. Finally, we present the first marine turtle molecular phylogeny using collagen (I) amino acid sequences and find our analyses match recent phylogenies based on nuclear and mitochondrial DNA. Our results highlight the advantage of using collagen fingerprinting to supplement morphological analyses of turtle bones and support the usefulness of this technique for assessing their past distributions across the Caribbean and Florida's Gulf Coast, especially in these tropical environments where DNA preservation may be poor.

Dataset Information

Zinc isotopes from archaeological bones provide reliable tropic level information for marine mammals.

Publications

Zinc isotopes from archaeological bones provide reliable tropic level information for marine mammals.

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