scholarly journals Stable isotopes provide independent support for the use of mesowear variables for inferring diets in African antelopes

2012 ◽  
Vol 279 (1746) ◽  
pp. 4441-4446 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julien Louys ◽  
Peter Ditchfield ◽  
Carlo Meloro ◽  
Sarah Elton ◽  
Laura C. Bishop
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotopes ◽  
Carbon Isotopes ◽  
Nitrogen Isotopes ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
Nitrogen Isotope ◽  
Direct Result ◽  
Carbon And Nitrogen Isotopes ◽  
Carbon And Nitrogen ◽  
The Relationship

We examine the relationship between mesowear variables and carbon and nitrogen isotopes in 16 species of African antelope (Mammalia: Bovidae). We show significant differences in carbon and nitrogen isotope values between individuals exhibiting sharp versus round cusps, and high versus low occlusal relief. We show significant correlations between mesowear variables and both carbon and nitrogen isotopes. We find significant correlations between mesowear score and nitrogen, but not carbon isotopes. Finally, we find no significant correlations between hypsodonty index and either isotope examined. Our results provide strong support for the use of mesowear variables in palaeodietary reconstructions of antelopes. Our results further suggest that for the antelopes examined here, mesowear signals are a direct result of diet, while hyposodonty may be the result of phylogenetic legacy.

Arctic herbivore diet can be inferred from stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes in C3 plants, faeces, and wool

2011 ◽  
Vol 89 (10) ◽  
pp. 892-899 ◽  
Author(s):  
D.K. Kristensen ◽  
E. Kristensen ◽  
M.C. Forchhammer ◽  
A. Michelsen ◽  
N.M. Schmidt
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotopes ◽  
Nitrogen Isotopes ◽  
Isotope Composition ◽  
Diet Analysis ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
C3 Plants ◽  
Stable Carbon ◽  
Ovibos Moschatus ◽  
Carbon And Nitrogen Isotopes ◽  
Carbon And Nitrogen

The use of stable isotopes in diet analysis usually relies on the different photosynthetic pathways of C3 and C4 plants, and the resulting difference in carbon isotope signature. In the Arctic, however, plant species are exclusively C3, and carbon isotopes alone are therefore not suitable for studying arctic herbivore diets. In this study, we examined the potential of both stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes to reconstruct the diet of an arctic herbivore, here the muskox ( Ovibos moschatus (Zimmermann, 1780)), in northeast Greenland. The isotope composition of plant communities and functional plant groups was compared with those of muskox faeces and shed wool, as this is a noninvasive approach to obtain dietary information on different temporal scales. Plants with different root mycorrhizal status were found to have different δ15N values, whereas differences in δ13C, as expected, were less distinct. As a result, our examination mainly relied on stable nitrogen isotopes. The interpretation of stable isotopes from faeces was difficult because of the large uncertainty in diet–faeces fractionation, whereas isotope signatures from wool suggested that the muskox summer diet consists of around 80% graminoids and up to 20% willows. In conclusion, the diet composition of an arctic herbivore can indeed be inferred from stable isotopes in arctic areas, despite the lack of C4 plants.

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