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Harris AJT, Santos GM, Malone KO, Van Der Meer MTJ, Riekenberg P, Fernandes R. A long-term study of stable isotope ratios of fingernail keratin and amino acids in a mother-infant dyad. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2024; 185:e25021. [PMID: 39192684 DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.25021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/21/2024] [Revised: 07/13/2024] [Accepted: 08/14/2024] [Indexed: 08/29/2024]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To evaluate the potential of compound-specific isotope analysis of amino acids (CSIA-AA) for investigating infant feeding practices, we conducted a long-term study that compared infant and maternal amino acid (AA) nitrogen isotope ratios. MATERIALS AND METHODS Fingernail samples were collected from a single mother-infant dyad over 19 months postpartum. Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios were measured in the bulk keratin of the fingernail samples. Selected samples were then hydrolyzed and derivatized for compound-specific nitrogen isotope analysis of keratin AAs. RESULTS As in previous studies, infant bulk keratin nitrogen isotope values increased during exclusive breastfeeding and fell with the introduction of complementary foods and eventual cessation of breastfeeding. Infant trophic AAs had elevated nitrogen isotope values relative to the mother, while the source AAs were similar between the mother and infant. Proline and threonine appeared to track the presence of human milk in the infant's diet as the isotopic composition of these AAs remained offset from maternal isotope values until the cessation of breastfeeding. DISCUSSION Although CSIA-AA is costly and labor intensive, it appears to hold potential for estimating the duration of breastfeeding, even after the introduction of complementary foods. Through the analysis of a full suite of AAs, it may also yield insights into infant physiology and AA synthesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alison J T Harris
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Jena, Germany
- Department of Archaeology, Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador, St. John's, Canada
| | - Guaciara M Santos
- Keck Carbon Cycle AMS Facility, University of California Irvine, Irvine, California, USA
| | - Kaelyn O Malone
- Keck Carbon Cycle AMS Facility, University of California Irvine, Irvine, California, USA
| | - Marcel T J Van Der Meer
- Marine Microbiology and Biogeochemistry Department, NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, Den Burg, The Netherlands
| | - Philip Riekenberg
- Marine Microbiology and Biogeochemistry Department, NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, Den Burg, The Netherlands
| | - Ricardo Fernandes
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Jena, Germany
- Department of Bioarchaeology, Faculty of Archaeology, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland
- Arne Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University, Brno, Czechia
- Climate Change and History Research Initiative, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, USA
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Gurney KEB, Classen HL, Clark RG. Testing for effects of growth rate on isotope trophic discrimination factors and evaluating the performance of Bayesian stable isotope mixing models experimentally: A moment of truth? PLoS One 2024; 19:e0304495. [PMID: 38875228 PMCID: PMC11178173 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0304495] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2024] [Accepted: 05/13/2024] [Indexed: 06/16/2024] Open
Abstract
Discerning assimilated diets of wild animals using stable isotopes is well established where potential dietary items in food webs are isotopically distinct. With the advent of mixing models, and Bayesian extensions of such models (Bayesian Stable Isotope Mixing Models, BSIMMs), statistical techniques available for these efforts have been rapidly increasing. The accuracy with which BSIMMs quantify diet, however, depends on several factors including uncertainty in tissue discrimination factors (TDFs; Δ) and identification of appropriate error structures. Whereas performance of BSIMMs has mostly been evaluated with simulations, here we test the efficacy of BSIMMs by raising domestic broiler chicks (Gallus gallus domesticus) on four isotopically distinct diets under controlled environmental conditions, ideal for evaluating factors that affect TDFs and testing how BSIMMs allocate individual birds to diets that vary in isotopic similarity. For both liver and feather tissues, δ13C and δ 15N values differed among dietary groups. Δ13C of liver, but not feather, was negatively related to the rate at which individuals gained body mass. For Δ15N, we identified effects of dietary group, sex, and tissue type, as well as an interaction between sex and tissue type, with females having higher liver Δ15N relative to males. For both tissues, BSIMMs allocated most chicks to correct dietary groups, especially for models using combined TDFs rather than diet-specific TDFs, and those applying a multiplicative error structure. These findings provide new information on how biological processes affect TDFs and confirm that adequately accounting for variability in consumer isotopes is necessary to optimize performance of BSIMMs. Moreover, results demonstrate experimentally that these models reliably characterize consumed diets when appropriately parameterized.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kirsty E B Gurney
- Science and Technology Branch, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
| | - Henry L Classen
- College of Agriculture and Bioresources, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
| | - Robert G Clark
- Science and Technology Branch, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
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Brasileiro L, Mayrink RR, Pereira AC, Costa FJV, Nardoto GB. Differentiating wild from captive animals: an isotopic approach. PeerJ 2023; 11:e16460. [PMID: 38025752 PMCID: PMC10680447 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.16460] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2022] [Accepted: 10/23/2023] [Indexed: 12/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Background Wildlife farming can be an important but complex tool for conservation. To achieve conservation benefits, wildlife farming should meet a variety of criteria, including traceability conditions to identify the animals' origin. The traditional techniques for discriminating between wild and captive animals may be insufficient to prevent doubts or misdeclaration, especially when labels are not expected or mandatory. There is a pressing need to develop more accurate techniques to discriminate between wild and captive animals and their products. Stable isotope analysis has been used to identify animal provenance, and some studies have successfully demonstrated its potential to differentiate wild from captive animals. In this literature review, we examined an extensive collection of publications to develop an overall picture of the application of stable isotopes to distinguish between wild and captive animals focusing on evaluating the patterns and potential of this tool. Survey methodology We searched peer-reviewed publications in the Web of Science database and the references list from the main studies on the subject. We selected and analyzed 47 studies that used δ13C, δ15N, δ2H, δ18O, and δ34S in tissues from fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. We built a database from the isotope ratios and metadata extracted from the publications. Results Studies have been using stable isotopes in wild and captive animals worldwide, with a particular concentration in Europe, covering all main vertebrate groups. A total of 80.8% of the studies combined stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen, and 88.2% used at least one of those elements. Fish is the most studied group, while amphibians are the least. Muscle and inert organic structures were the most analyzed tissues (46.81% and 42.55%). δ13C and δ15N standard deviation and range were significantly higher in the wild than in captive animals, suggesting a more variable diet in the first group. δ13C tended to be higher in wild fishes and in captive mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians. δ15N was higher in the wild terrestrial animals when controlling for diet. Only 5.7% of the studies failed to differentiate wild and captive animals using stable isotopes. Conclusions This review reveals that SIA can help distinguish between wild and captive in different vertebrate groups, rearing conditions, and methodological designs. Some aspects should be carefully considered to use the methodology properly, such as the wild and captivity conditions, the tissue analyzed, and how homogeneous the samples are. Despite the increased use of SIA to distinguish wild from captive animals, some gaps remain since some taxonomic groups (e.g., amphibians), countries (e.g., Africa), and isotopes (e.g., δ2H, δ18O, and δ34S) have been little studied.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luiza Brasileiro
- Diretoria de Fiscalização Ambiental, Brasilia Ambiental, Brasília, DF, Brazil
- Departamento de Ecologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, DF, Brazil
| | - Rodrigo Ribeiro Mayrink
- Departamento de Ecologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, DF, Brazil
- Setor Técnico-Científico, Policia Federal, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil
| | - André Costa Pereira
- Departamento de Ecologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, DF, Brazil
| | | | - Gabriela Bielefeld Nardoto
- Departamento de Ecologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, DF, Brazil
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Manlick PJ, Cook JA, Newsome SD. The coupling of green and brown food webs regulates trophic position in a montane mammal guild. Ecology 2023; 104:e3949. [PMID: 36495220 DOI: 10.1002/ecy.3949] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2022] [Revised: 10/26/2022] [Accepted: 11/11/2022] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Food web ecology has revolutionized our understanding of ecological processes, but the drivers of food web properties like trophic position (TP) and food chain length are notoriously enigmatic. In terrestrial ecosystems, above- and belowground systems were historically compartmentalized into "green" and "brown" food webs, but the coupling of these systems by animal consumers is increasingly recognized, with potential consequences for trophic structure. We used stable isotope analysis (δ13 C, δ15 N) of individual amino acids to trace the flow of essential biomolecules and jointly measure multichannel feeding, food web coupling, and TP in a guild of small mammals. We then tested the hypothesis that brown energy fluxes to aboveground consumers increase terrestrial food chain length via cryptic trophic transfers during microbial decomposition. We found that the average small mammal consumer acquired nearly 70% of their essential amino acids (69.0% ± 7.6%) from brown food webs, leading to significant increases in TP across species and functional groups. Fungi were the primary conduit of brown energy to aboveground consumers, providing nearly half the amino acid budget for small mammals on average (44.3% ± 12.0%). These findings illustrate the tightly coupled nature of green and brown food webs and show that microbially mediated energy flow ultimately regulates food web structure in aboveground consumers. Consequently, we propose that the integration of green and brown energy channels is a cryptic driver of food chain length in terrestrial ecosystems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Philip J Manlick
- Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA.,Museum of Southwestern Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA.,Pacific Northwest Research Station, USDA Forest Service, Juneau, Alaska, USA
| | - Joseph A Cook
- Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA.,Museum of Southwestern Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
| | - Seth D Newsome
- Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
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Shipley ON, Olin JA, Whiteman JP, Bethea DM, Newsome SD. Bulk and amino acid nitrogen isotopes suggest shifting nitrogen balance of pregnant sharks across gestation. Oecologia 2022; 199:313-328. [PMID: 35718810 DOI: 10.1007/s00442-022-05197-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/16/2021] [Accepted: 05/21/2022] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
Nitrogen isotope (δ15N) analysis of bulk tissues and individual amino acids (AA) can be used to assess how consumers maintain nitrogen balance with broad implications for predicting individual fitness. For elasmobranchs, a ureotelic taxa thought to be constantly nitrogen limited, the isotopic effects associated with nitrogen-demanding events such as prolonged gestation remain unknown. Given the linkages between nitrogen isotope variation and consumer nitrogen balance, we used AA δ15N analysis of muscle and liver tissue collected from female bonnethead sharks (Sphyrna tiburo, n = 16) and their embryos (n = 14) to explore how nitrogen balance may vary across gestation. Gestational stage was a strong predictor of bulk tissue and AA δ15N values in pregnant shark tissues, decreasing as individuals neared parturition. This trend was observed in trophic (e.g., Glx, Ala, Val), source (e.g., Lys), and physiological (e.g., Gly) AAs. Several potential mechanisms may explain these results including nitrogen conservation, scavenging, and bacterially mediated breakdown of urea to free ammonia that is used to synthesize AAs. We observed contrasting patterns of isotopic discrimination in embryo tissues, which generally became enriched in 15N throughout development. This was attributed to greater excretion of nitrogenous waste in more developed embryos, and the role of physiologically sensitive AAs (i.e., Gly and Ser) to molecular processes such as nucleotide synthesis. These findings underscore how AA isotopes can quantify shifts in nitrogen balance, providing unequivocal evidence for the role of physiological condition in driving δ15N variation in both bulk tissues and individual AAs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Oliver N Shipley
- Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, 87131, USA. .,Beneath the Waves, PO Box 126, Herndon, VA, 20172, USA.
| | - Jill A Olin
- Biological Sciences, Great Lakes Research Center, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI, 49931, USA
| | - John P Whiteman
- Department of Biological Sciences, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA, 23529, USA
| | - Dana M Bethea
- NOAA Fisheries Southeast Regional Office, Saint Petersburg, FL, 33701, USA
| | - Seth D Newsome
- Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, 87131, USA
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Manlick PJ, Newsome SD. Stable isotope fingerprinting traces essential amino acid assimilation and multichannel feeding in a vertebrate consumer. Methods Ecol Evol 2022. [DOI: 10.1111/2041-210x.13903] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Philip J. Manlick
- Department of Biology University of New Mexico Albuquerque New Mexico USA
| | - Seth D. Newsome
- Department of Biology University of New Mexico Albuquerque New Mexico USA
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Reevaluating trophic discrimination factors (
Δδ
13
C
and
Δδ
15
N
) for diet reconstruction. ECOL MONOGR 2022. [DOI: 10.1002/ecm.1525] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
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Abstract
Stable isotope analysis of teeth and bones is regularly applied by archeologists and paleoanthropologists seeking to reconstruct diets, ecologies, and environments of past hominin populations. Moving beyond the now prevalent study of stable isotope ratios from bulk materials, researchers are increasingly turning to stable isotope ratios of individual amino acids to obtain more detailed and robust insights into trophic level and resource use. In the present article, we provide a guide on how to best use amino acid stable isotope ratios to determine hominin dietary behaviors and ecologies, past and present. We highlight existing uncertainties of interpretation and the methodological developments required to ensure good practice. In doing so, we hope to make this promising approach more broadly accessible to researchers at a variety of career stages and from a variety of methodological and academic backgrounds who seek to delve into new depths in the study of dietary composition.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Ricardo Fernandes
- University of Oxford, Oxford, England, United Kingdom, and with the Faculty of Arts at Masaryk University, Czech Republic
| | - Yiming V Wang
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Patrick Roberts
- School of Social Sciences, University of Queensland, in St Lucia, Queensland, Australia
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Tomotani BM, Salvador RB, Sabadel AJM, Miskelly CM, Brown JCS, Delgado J, Boussès P, Cherel Y, Waugh SM, Bury SJ. Extreme bill dimorphism leads to different but overlapping isotopic niches and similar trophic positions in sexes of the charismatic extinct huia. Oecologia 2021; 198:67-77. [PMID: 34842996 PMCID: PMC8803797 DOI: 10.1007/s00442-021-05082-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2021] [Accepted: 11/15/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
The New Zealand huia (Heteralocha acutirostris) had the most extreme bill sexual dimorphism among modern birds. Given the quick extinction of the species, the cause of the dimorphism could only be hypothesised to reflect different trophic niches and reduce male/female competition. We tested that hypothesis by combining museum specimens, geometric morphometrics, and isotopic analyses. We used geometric morphometrics to describe bill shape; measured bulk (δ15Nbulk) and (δ13Cbulk) values from feather as proxies of the birds’ foraging habitat and diet; and compared compound-specific stable isotopes analyses (CSIA) of nitrogen in amino acids (δ15NAA) in male–female pairs to estimate their trophic position. Sexes had significantly different, but overlapping feather δ15Nbulk and δ13Cbulk values, but δ15NAA indicated identical trophic positions and δ15Nbulk was not related to bill shape. Trophic position was less variable among females, consistent with a specialised foraging behaviour and, thus, supporting a partial male/female foraging segregation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Barbara M Tomotani
- Netherlands Institute of Ecology, NIOO-KNAW, Droevendaalsesteeg 10, 6708 PB, Wageningen, The Netherlands. .,Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, New Zealand.
| | | | - Amandine J M Sabadel
- National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, Wellington, New Zealand.,Department of Zoology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
| | - Colin M Miskelly
- Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, New Zealand
| | - Julie C S Brown
- National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, Wellington, New Zealand
| | - Josette Delgado
- National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, Wellington, New Zealand
| | - Patrick Boussès
- Institut Systématique, Évolution, Biodiversité, ISYEB, Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Sorbonne Université, Paris, France
| | - Yves Cherel
- Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chizé, CNRS-La Rochelle Université, Villiers-en-Bois, France
| | - Susan M Waugh
- Ligue pour la Protection des Oiseaux, Rochefort, France
| | - Sarah J Bury
- National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, Wellington, New Zealand
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