Using Isotopic Data to Evaluate Esox lucius (Linnaeus, 1758) Natal Origins in a Hydrologically Complex River Basin

Abstract

Otolith microchemistry has emerged as a powerful technique with which to identify the natal origins of fishes, but it relies on differences in underlying geology that may occur over large spatial scales. An examination of how small a spatial scale on which this technique can be implemented, especially in water bodies that share a large proportion of their flow, would be useful for guiding aquatic invasive species control efforts. We examined trace isotopic signatures in northern pike (Esox lucius) otoliths to estimate their provenance between two reservoirs in the Upper Yampa River Basin, Colorado, USA. This is a challenging study area as these reservoirs are only 11-rkm apart on the same river and thus share a high proportion of their inflow. We found that three isotopes (86Sr, 137Ba, and 55Mn) were useful in discriminating between these reservoirs, but their signatures varied annually, and the values overlapped. Strontium isotope ratios (87Sr/86Sr) were different between sites and relatively stable across three years, which made them an ideal marker for determining northern pike provenance. Our study demonstrates the usefulness of otolith microchemistry for natal origin determination within the same river over a relatively small spatial scale when there are geologic differences between sites, especially geologic differences underlying tributaries between sites.

Exploring the Potential of 87Sr/86Sr Isotope Ratio with Strontium and Rubidium Levels to Assess the Geographic Origin of Saffron

“…The investigation of a geogenic parameter, which does not change between seasons and years/vintages, would facilitate such controls significantly, as reference material would not need to be of the same vintage. The isotope ratio of strontium is recognized as such a marker, as was demonstrated by Agguzzoni et al (2020) [28] and Cellier et al (2021) [29], and numerous publications reported its successful applications (e.g., [30][31][32]). This method describes and analyzes the transfer of 87 Sr/ 86 Sr from the soil and the bedrock into the growing plants (and, when applicable, from the plants into the animals feeding on them) without any relevant change in 87 Sr/ 86 Sr along the transfer (and food) chain.…”

Differentiation of Apricots of Different Geographic Origin in Central and Southern Europe by Applying 87Sr/86Sr Analysis: Potential and Limitations

“…The applied methods often depend on the commodity being investigated and include a stable isotope analysis of the main elements of biogenic materials (H, C, N, O, S), isotope analysis of heavy elements such as Sr or Pb, element concentrations, molecular markers, organic compound concentrations, and screening methods such as FTIR, NMR, untargeted metabolomics, etc. (e.g., [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 ]). For food, usually, the method of choice is the isotope analysis of the main elements, of which numerous studies have already been published (e.g., [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 ], among many others).…”

“…In addition, the results obtained for one commodity can usually be used for other commodities from the same geographic origin, as different species incorporate Sr in the same way and without fractionation. Examples have shown that such investigations can be highly successful (e.g., [ 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 ]). However, other examples have also documented that this method has its limitations (e.g., [ 15 , 16 , 17 ]) and the success or failure of this method depends on the conditions and circumstances, as well as on the exact problem that is being addressed ([ 17 , 18 ]).…”

Revealing Population Connectivity of the Estuarine Tapertail Anchovy Coilia nasus in the Changjiang River Estuary and Its Adjacent Waters Using Otolith Microchemistry

“…In particular, the nucleus region, defined as a small area in the central region of an otolith [31,32], which usually represents its initial growth period (i.e., larvae and juveniles) [33,34], is important as it corresponds to the fish's incubation and early life-history stage; therefore, the chemical characteristics of the otolith nucleus region can be used to determine the characteristics of hatchery/spawning sites and population origin, which can retrospectively determine the origin of the population [35][36][37]. In these studies, the elemental "fingerprint" and stable isotope characteristics are often used to determine the physical and chemical nature of the aqueous environment during the incubation and early life-history of research objects for identification and connectivity studies of populations [38,39]. In addition, there are three main channels for element deposition into the otolith: binding with protein in the otolith, inclusion into the calcium carbonate lattice, and substitution of calcium in calcium carbonate crystals [40][41][42].…”