We measured the respiratory isotope effect ϵresp for seven representative unicellular marine organisms. The bacterium Pseudomonas halodurans, the diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum, the phytoflagellates Cryptomonas baltica and Dunaliella tertiolecta, the heterotrophic flagellates Paraphysomonas imperforata and Bodo sp., and the ciliate Uronema sp. exhibit ϵresp values in the range 14‐26‰. We also measured ϵresp for three metazoans. The ϵresp for the copepod Acartia tonsa ranged from 17 to 25‰, while two larger organisms, the mollusk Mercenaria mercenaria and the salmon Salmo salmar, respire with a smaller ϵresp of 5‐10‰. The average respiratory isotope effect of the dominant marine respirers (the bacteria, microalgae and zooplankton) is about 20 ± 3‰. An ϵresp of this magnitude supports the hypothesis that the photosynthesis‐respiration cycle is responsible for the 23.5‰ enrichment in the δ18O ratio of atmospheric O2 relative to seawater (the Dole effect). The large value and high variability in the average ϵresp limits the usefulness of a proposed method using the δ18O of naturally fractionated dissolved O2 in seawater as a tracer of primary production in the oligotrophic ocean.

No abstract

Stable nitrogen isotope ratios (δ15N) were measured in fish, mussel, and sediment samples taken from 17 small freshwater sites to examine food chain length and trophic position across sites affected by differing levels of anthropogenic activity. Both shoreline development and fish species composition varied greatly among sites, and a range of up to 11.2‰ was found for the δ15N values of largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides). Fish δ15N values were baseline corrected using unionid mussel (Elliptio complanata) δ15N values. Predators, such as largemouth bass and chain pickerel (Esox niger), exhibited normalized δ15N values that were less variable than those of benthic-feeding fishes. Relationships between δ15N and dissolved inorganic nitrogen concentrations indicated that δ15N was a valid descriptor of eutrophication at sites with low dissolved inorganic nitrogen concentrations. The fraction of residential land in buffer zones surrounding sites was correlated with fish δ15N, indicating that urban development, and presumably human wastewater, resulted in elevated δ15N values in these small freshwater systems.

No abstract

No abstract