Carbon and nitrogen stable isotopic offsets between diet and hair/feces in captive chimpanzees

Tsutaya, Takumi; Fujimori, Yui; Hayashi, Misato; Yoneda, Minoru; Miyabe‐Nishiwaki, Takako

doi:10.1002/rcm.7760

Cited by 13 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…In the present study, %N differentiates plants and fauna, and thus our interpretations and model use %N as a marker of faunivory. However, the %N content in feces also can represent tannin content (high in dicot fruits), in addition to nitrogen that is digested but not absorbed, and endogenous or microbial nitrogen from the gut 28,41 …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Instead, there can be diet‐tissue (including diet‐excreta) offsets between foods and tissues of consumers, which result from fractionation of isotopes within the body, and how atoms and molecules from foods come to be distributed throughout different tissue types 39 . Diet‐tissue offsets vary across taxa and across tissue types, 15,40 and must be accounted for in order to successfully back‐track from a consumer's tissue and waste product stable isotope ratios and elemental values to the values of foods it consumed 41 . Differences in the diet‐feces space have to do with biochemical pathways in the digestive tract, the actions of microorganisms in the gut, diet quality, and mass‐specific metabolism differences 36,40,42 .…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…feces and foods using laboratory animals fed captive diets. Captive animals are necessarily an imperfect model for wild animals because of differences in diet and digestion, 41 but provide a key guideline in aid of diet reconstruction in the wild. Fecal samples from seven adult male robust capuchin monkeys pair‐housed at the University of Georgia (Athens, GA, USA) were collected in April and May of 2014.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Isotopic and elemental corroborates for wild bearded capuchin (Sapajus libidinosus) omnivorous dietary adaptation at Fazenda Boa Vista, Brazil

Reitsema

Jones

Gilbert

et al. 2020

Rapid Comm Mass Spectrometry

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Rationale This study analyzes variability in the diets of wild bearded capuchin monkeys, Sapajus libidinosus, by analyzing stable carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) isotope ratios and elemental concentrations (%C and %N) of fecal samples and food items. Developing isotopic and elemental correlates for diets of habituated subjects is a necessary step towards applying similar methods to interpret diets of unhabituated or cryptic subjects. Methods Fecal samples from wild capuchins and their foods were collected at Fazenda Boa Vista, Brazil. Fecal samples from laboratory‐housed Sapajus spp. and their foods were analyzed to establish diet‐feces offsets for δ13C, δ15N, %C, and %N. Samples were dried, powdered, and measured for isotopic and elemental values. A Bayesian mixing model commutes isotopic and elemental data from wild capuchins into likely proportions of different food categories. Results The captive study shows small diet‐feces spaces for Sapajus spp. of −0.8 ± 0.7‰ for δ13C, −0.2 ± 0.4‰ for δ15N, −6.1 ± 1.7% for %C, and −1.0 ± 0.6% for %N. The wild study shows omnivorous diets based on C3, C4, and CAM plants, and fauna. Subject diets are highly varied within and between days. Fecal data show age‐related differences in diet and crop‐raiding. There is no consistent isotopic or elemental difference between mothers and infants. Conclusions Fecal stable isotope and elemental evidence employed in a Bayesian mixing model reflects the highly varied diets of capuchin monkeys in an isotopically heterogeneous environment. The isotopic and elemental variability reported here will aid similar diet reconstructions among unhabituated subjects in the future, but precludes tracking weaning isotopically among capuchins in this environment.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Isotopic and elemental corroborates for wild bearded capuchin (Sapajus libidinosus) omnivorous dietary adaptation at Fazenda Boa Vista, Brazil

Reitsema

Jones

Gilbert

et al. 2020

Rapid Comm Mass Spectrometry

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“…Although attempts at explaining climatic contributions aids in understanding broad‐scale patterns of variation in Pan isotopes, the relevance of the ecological context in isotopic comparisons across varied habitats necessitated the establishment of environmental isotopic baselines before fine‐scale variation could be evaluated. Isotopic variability of Pan food items (Carlson & Crowley, ; Carlson & Kingston, ; Loudon et al, ) and the incorporation of these items into body tissues (Tsutaya, Fujimori, Hayashi, Yoneda, & Miyabe‐Nishiwaki, ) has recently received greater focus in the literature. Still, scant research (Oelze et al, ) has directly incorporated these baselines when drawing inter‐site comparisons, which instead use the offset between baseline plant isotope values and body tissue isotope values (known as Δ 13 C and Δ 15 N) as the unit of comparison, thereby allowing a stronger basis upon which primate interactions with their environment can be evaluated across sites.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stable isotope variation in savanna chimpanzees (Pan troglodytesverus) indicate avoidance of energetic challenges through dietary compensation at the limits of the range

Wessling

Oelze

Eshuis

et al. 2019

American J Phys Anthropol

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Objectives: Food scarcity is proposed to be a limitation to chimpanzees at the limits of their range; however, such a constraint has never been investigated in this context. We investigated patterns of δ 13 C and δ 15 N variation along a latitudinal gradient at the northwestern West African chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus) range limit with the expectation that isotope ratios of chimpanzees at the range limit will indicate different dietary strategies or higher physiological constraints than chimpanzees further from the edge. Materials and methods:We measured δ 13 C and δ 15 N values in hair (n = 81) and plant food (n = 342) samples from five chimpanzee communities located along a latitudinal gradient in Southeastern Senegal. Results:We found clear grouping patterns in hair δ 13 C and δ 15 N in the four southern sites compared to the northernmost site. Environmental baseline samples collected from these sites revealed overall higher plant δ 15 N values at the northernmost site, but similar δ 13 C values across sites. By accounting for environmental baseline, Δ 13 C and Δ 15 N values were clustered for all five sites relative to total Pan variation, but indicated a 13 C-enriched diet at the range limit.Discussion: Clustering in Δ 13 C and Δ 15 N values supports that strategic shifting between preferred and fallback foods is a likely ubiquitous but necessary strategy employed by these chimpanzees to cope with their environment, potentially allowing chimpanzees at their limits to avoid periods of starvation. These results also underline the necessity of accounting for local isotopic baseline differences during inter-site comparison. K E Y W O R D S carbon, niche, nitrogen, δ 13 C, δ 15 N

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“…Most of these studies have focused on mammalian herbivores rather than omnivores or carnivores. To our knowledge, the only non-herbivorous mammals to have their scats characterized isotopically are bears [12], mountain gorillas [7], chimpanzees [23], bats [24], and two species of big cats [25]. …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Isotopic ecology of coyotes from scat and road kill carcasses: A complementary approach to feeding experiments

Reid

Koch

2017

PLoS ONE

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Scat is frequently used to study animal diets because it is easy to find and collect, but one concern is that gross fecal analysis (GFA) techniques exaggerate the importance of small-bodied prey to mammalian mesopredator diets. To capitalize on the benefits of scat, we suggest the analysis of scat carbon and nitrogen isotope values (δ13C and δ15N). This technique offers researchers a non-invasive method to gather short-term dietary information. We conducted three interrelated studies to validate the use of isotopic values from coyote scat: 1) we determined tissue-to-tissue apparent C and N isotope enrichment factors (ε13* and ε15*) for coyotes from road kill animals (n = 4); 2) we derived diet-to-scat isotope discrimination factors for coyotes; and 3) we used field collected coyote scats (n = 12) to compare estimates of coyote dietary proportions from stable isotope mixing models with estimates from two GFA techniques. Scat consistently had the lowest δ13C and δ15N values among the tissues sampled. We derived a diet-to-scat Δ13C value of -1.5‰ ± 1.6‰ and Δ15N value of 2.3‰ ± 1.3‰ for coyotes. Coyote scat δ13C and δ15N values adjusted for discrimination consistently plot within the isotopic mixing space created by known dietary items. In comparison with GFA results, we found that mixing model estimates of coyote dietary proportions de-emphasize the importance of small-bodied prey. Coyote scat δ13C and δ15N values therefore offer a relatively quick and non-invasive way to gain accurate dietary information.

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Carbon and nitrogen stable isotopic offsets between diet and hair/feces in captive chimpanzees

Cited by 13 publications

References 59 publications

Isotopic and elemental corroborates for wild bearded capuchin (Sapajus libidinosus) omnivorous dietary adaptation at Fazenda Boa Vista, Brazil

Isotopic and elemental corroborates for wild bearded capuchin (Sapajus libidinosus) omnivorous dietary adaptation at Fazenda Boa Vista, Brazil

Stable isotope variation in savanna chimpanzees (Pan troglodytesverus) indicate avoidance of energetic challenges through dietary compensation at the limits of the range

Isotopic ecology of coyotes from scat and road kill carcasses: A complementary approach to feeding experiments

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