Timing of isotopic integration in marine mammal skull: comparative study between calcified tissues

Abstract

This study demonstrated the usefulness of the applied approach for providing a best approximation of the timing of isotopic integration into the skull of a marine mammal, thereby reducing uncertainty in exploring historic changes in the species' feeding behavior.

Stable Isotopes Indicate Population Structuring in the Southwest Atlantic Population of Right Whales (Eubalaena australis)

“…This makes bone a tissue of choice for investigating long-term processes [31]. Bone is made up of two matrices, both of which are useful to investigate habitat use, pattern of migrations and dietary history of organisms.…”

Stable isotope analysis and fin whale subpopulation structure in the eastern North Atlantic

“…). Among other animal tissues, bone, due to its slow isotopic turnover rate, integrates large time scales and has proven to be a tissue of choice for investigating long‐term processes (Riofrío‐Lazo and Aurioles‐Gamboa ). Both the organic and inorganic matrices of bone have been used: collagen, the organic matrix, has been analyzed to study nitrogen and carbon stable isotope values, while the inorganic matrix, mostly composed of carbonated hydroxyapatite, has been analyzed to study the values of stable isotopes of oxygen.…”

Effects of skeletal element identity, delipidation and demineralization on the analysis of stable isotope ratios of C and N in fish bone

“…Second, the actual stable isotope ratio of N can be influenced by the amino acid profile of proteins in the tissue, because the TDF of essential amino acids differs from that of non-essential ones (Hare et al, 1991;Martínez del Rio et al, 2009). Finally, tissues integrate diet over different time scales, ranging from days for plasma to years for bone (Tieszen et al, 1983;Hobson & Clark, 1992;Logan et al, 2006;Buchheister & Latour, 2010;Riofrío-Lazo & Aurioles-Gamboa, 2013), which results in additional variability between tissues when diet varies throughout time. Accordingly, tissue selection is critical and will depend on the objectives of the study.…”

“…Bone is the tissue of choice for retrospective studies to assess historical changes in the diet and trophic position of consumers (Katzenberg & Weber, 1999;Hirons et al, 2001;Newsome et al, 2007;Drago et al, 2009;Saporiti et al, 2014;Zenteno et al, 2015;Zangrando et al, 2016), because it is often the only available tissue from scientific collections and in zooarchaeological and paleontological records. Furthermore, the range of variation in isotopic values of the bone tissue results in a uniform and low-resolution seasonal and interannual variability because of its low turnover rate (Schoeninger & DeNiro, 1984;Lee-Thorp et al, 1989;Hirons et al, 2001;Riofrío-Lazo & Aurioles-Gamboa, 2013), which is helpful in long-term studies.…”