scholarly journals Stable isotope paleoecology of the Baynunah Formation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Uno ◽  
Faysal Bibi
Keyword(s):  
Oxygen Isotope ◽  
Carbon Isotope ◽  
Tooth Enamel ◽  
Field Work ◽  
Wet Season ◽  
Isotope Data ◽  
Carbon And Oxygen Isotope ◽  
Herbivore Community ◽  
Vegetation Carbon ◽  
Seasonally Flooded

The Baynunah Formation contains the only known late Miocene terrestrial fossils from the Arabian Peninsula. Based on renewed field work since 2002, we present paleoenvironmental and dietary reconstructions from carbon isotope data from plant wax biomarkers and carbon and oxygen isotope data from fossil tooth enamel in combination with previously published fossil tooth enamel and pedogenic carbonate isotope data. The organic and isotopic data indicate that the highly seasonal ecosystem supported a herbivore community that relied heavily on C4 vegetation. Carbon isotope and molecular abundance data from n-alkanes indicate mostly mixed C3-C4 and C4-dominated ecosystems. Carbon isotope data from fossil teeth indicate a range of C3, mixed C3-C4, and C4 diets, with suids, deinotherids, and rhinocerotids browsing, and bovids, elephantids, and equids mixed feeding to grazing. Hippopotamids show the most positive carbon and most negative oxygen values, with narrow ranges indicating year-round grazing and semi- aquatic habits. The Baynunah sivatheres represent the earliest evidence for a C4-dominanted diet among giraffids. Equid intratooth oxygen isotope profiles indicate a highly seasonal hydroclimate regime, reflecting strong monsoonal conditions with a single rainy season. Corresponding carbon profiles record large seasonal changes in equid diets, with mainly grazing in the wet season and increased browsing in the dry season. Baynunah ecosystems comprised savanna habitats (woody grasslands) with the proboscidean trackway site of Mleisa 1 likely being a seasonally flooded C4 grassland.

scholarly journals Sampling and Pretreatment of Tooth Enamel Carbonate for Stable Carbon and Oxygen Isotope Analysis

10.3791/58002 ◽  
2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alicia Ventresca Miller ◽  
Ricardo Fernandes ◽  
Anneke Janzen ◽  
Ayushi Nayak ◽  
Jillian Swift ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Oxygen Isotope ◽  
Tooth Enamel ◽  
Isotope Analysis ◽  
Stable Carbon ◽  
Carbon And Oxygen Isotope

Mobility and origin of camels in the Roman Empire through serial stable carbon and oxygen isotope variations in tooth enamel

2020 ◽  
Vol 557 ◽  
pp. 80-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophie G. Habinger ◽  
Bea De Cupere ◽  
Franziska Dövener ◽  
Erich Pucher ◽  
Hervé Bocherens
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Oxygen Isotope ◽  
Tooth Enamel ◽  
Stable Carbon ◽  
Carbon And Oxygen Isotope

Hadrosaurid migration: inferences based on stable isotope comparisons among Late Cretaceous dinosaur localities

Paleobiology ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 270-288 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henry C. Fricke ◽  
Raymond R. Rogers ◽  
Terry A. Gates
Keyword(s):  
Oxygen Isotope ◽  
Late Cretaceous ◽  
Tooth Enamel ◽  
Isotope Ratios ◽  
Isotopic Signatures ◽  
Oxygen Isotope Ratios ◽  
Drinking Waters ◽  
Carbon And Oxygen Isotope ◽  
Western Interior Basin ◽  
Major Alteration

Stable carbon and oxygen isotope ratios were measured for carbonate in samples of hadrosaurid tooth enamel and dentine, and gar scale ganoine and dentine from five geologically “contemporaneous“ (two-million-year resolution) and geographically distant late Campanian formations (Two Medicine, Dinosaur Park, Judith River, Kaiparowits, and Fruitland) in the Western Interior Basin. In all cases, isotopic offsets were observed between enamel and dentine from the same teeth, with dentine being characterized by higher and more variable carbon and oxygen isotope ratios. Isotopic offsets were also observed between gar ganoine and hadrosaur enamel in all sites analyzed. Both of these observations indicate that diagenetic overprinting of enamel isotope ratios did not entirely obfuscate primary signals. Decreases in carbon and oxygen isotope ratios were observed in hadrosaur enamel from east to west, and overlap in isotope ratios occurred only between two of the sampled sites (Dinosaur Park and Judith River Formations).The lack of isotopic overlap for enamel among localities could be due to diagenetic resetting of isotope ratios such that they reflect local groundwater effects rather than primary biogenic inputs. However, the large range in carbon isotope ratios, the consistent taxonomic offsets for enamel/ganoine data, and comparisons of enamel-dentine data from the same teeth all suggest that diagenesis is not the lone driver of the signal. In the absence of major alteration, the mostly likely explanation for the isotopic patterns observed is that hadrosaurids from the targeted formations were eating plants and drinking waters with distinct isotopic ratios. One implication of this reconstruction is that hadrosaurids in the Late Cretaceous of the Western Interior did not migrate to an extent that would obscure local isotopic signatures.

Herbivore paleodiet and paleoenvironmental changes in Chad during the Pliocene using stable isotope ratios of tooth enamel carbonate

Paleobiology ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 294-309 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antoine Zazzo ◽  
Hervé Bocherens ◽  
Daniel Billiou ◽  
André Mariotti ◽  
Michel Brunet ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Isotope ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Tooth Enamel ◽  
Isotope Composition ◽  
Plant Cover ◽  
Carbon Isotope Composition ◽  
Dental Morphology ◽  
Early Hominid ◽  
Carbon And Oxygen Isotope

Chad is a key region for understanding early hominid geographic expansion in relation to late Miocene and Pliocene environmental changes, owing to its location 2500 km west from the Rift Valley and to the occurrence of sites ranging in age from about 6 to 3 Ma, some of which yield fossil hominids. To reconstruct changes in herbivore paleodiet and therefore changes in the paleoenvironment, we measured the carbon and oxygen isotope composition of 80 tooth-enamel samples from three time horizons for nine families of Perissodactyla, Proboscidea, and Artiodactyla. The absence of significant alteration of in vivo isotopic signatures can be determined for carbon, thus allowing paleodietary and paleoenvironmental interpretations to be made.While the results generally confirm previous dietary hypotheses, mostly based on relative crown height, there are some notable surprises. The main discrepancies are found among low-crowned proboscideans (e.g., Anancus) and high-crowned rhinocerotids (Ceratotherium). Both species were more opportunistic feeders than it is usually believed. This result confirms that ancient feeding ecology cannot always be inferred from dental morphology or extant relatives.There is an increase in the average carbon isotope composition of tooth enamel from the oldest unit to the youngest, suggesting that the environment became richer in C4 plants with time. In turn, more C4 plants indicate an opening of the plant cover during this period. This increase in carbon isotope composition is also recorded within genera such as Nyanzachoerus, Ceratotherium, and Hexaprotodon, indicating a change from a C3-dominated to a C4-dominated diet over time. It appears that, unlike other middle Pliocene hominid sites in eastern and southern Africa, this part of Chad was characterized by very open conditions and that savanna-like grasslands were already dominant when hominids were present in the area.

Stable isotope evidence for changes in dietary niche partitioning among hadrosaurian and ceratopsian dinosaurs of the Hell Creek Formation, North Dakota

Paleobiology ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 534-552 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henry C. Fricke ◽  
Dean A. Pearson
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotope ◽  
Oxygen Isotope ◽  
Tooth Enamel ◽  
Habitat Preferences ◽  
Niche Partitioning ◽  
Isotope Ratios ◽  
Oxygen Isotope Ratios ◽  
Carbon And Oxygen Isotope ◽  
Dietary Niche ◽  
Ceratopsian Dinosaurs

Questions related to dinosaur behavior can be difficult to answer conclusively by using morphological studies alone. As a complement to these approaches, carbon and oxygen isotope ratios of tooth enamel can provide insight into habitat and dietary preferences of herbivorous dinosaurs. This approach is based on the isotopic variability in plant material and in surface waters of the past, which is in turn reflected by carbon and oxygen isotope ratios of animals that ingested the organic matter or drank the water. Thus, it has the potential to identify and characterize dietary and habitat preferences for coexisting taxa.In this study, stable isotope ratios from coexisting hadrosaurian and ceratopsian dinosaurs of the Hell Creek Formation of North Dakota are compared for four different stratigraphic levels. Isotopic offsets between tooth enamel and tooth dentine, as well as taxonomic differences in means and in patterns of isotopic data among taxa, indicate that primary paleoecological information is preserved. The existence of taxonomic offsets also provides the first direct evidence for dietary niche partitioning among these herbivorous dinosaur taxa. Of particular interest is the observation that the nature of this partitioning changes over time: for some localities ceratopsian dinosaurs have higher carbon and oxygen isotope ratios than hadrosaurs, indicating a preference for plants living in open settings near the coast, whereas for other localities isotope ratios are lower, indicating a preference for plants in the understory of forests. In most cases the isotope ratios among hadrosaurs are similar and are interpreted to represent a dietary preference for plants of the forest canopy. The inferred differences in ceratopsian behavior are suggested to represent a change in vegetation cover and hence habitat availability in response to sea level change or to the position of river distributaries. Given our current lack of taxonomic resolution, it is not possible to determine if dietary and habitat preferences inferred from stable isotope data are associated with single, or multiple, species of hadrosaurian/ceratopsian dinosaurs.

The carbon- and oxygen-isotope record of the Precambrian–Cambrian boundary interval in China and Iran and their correlation

1990 ◽  
Vol 127 (4) ◽  
pp. 319-332 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin D. Brasier ◽  
Mordeckai Magaritz ◽  
Richard Corfield ◽  
Luo Huilin ◽  
Wu Xiche ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Oxygen Isotope ◽  
Carbon Isotope ◽  
Oxygen Isotopes ◽  
Carbon And Oxygen Isotopes ◽  
Oxygen Isotope Record ◽  
Carbon And Oxygen Isotope ◽  
Isotope Record ◽  
Assemblage Zone ◽  
Stratotype Section ◽  
Zone Ii

AbstractThe fossiliferous section at Meishucun of Yunnan, China, is a candidate stratotype section for the Precambrian–Cambrian boundary. Early diagenetic dolomites and phosphorites have been sampled across the boundary interval here, and in the correlated section at Maidiping in Sichuanand Valiabad in Iran, for comparison of their carbon and oxygen isotopes. This is the first such study that is calibrated by biostratigraphy in the interval from the earliest (pre-Tommotian) skeletal fossils to trilobites. Although negative oxygen isotopes indicate a diagenetic signal in the Zhongyicun Member and basal Badaowan Member phosphorites, two carbon-isotope cycles are clearly present and can be correlated in dolomitic rocks between the two sections. The first appearance datum (FAD) of the earliest skeletal assemblage (zone I, Marker A), FAD of diverse micromolluscs (zone II, Marker B) and FAD of Chinese trilobites (zones IV, V) and Marker C appear at similar points on the carbon-isotope curve in the two Chinese sections. Integrated carbon-isotope and early skeletal fossil biostratigraphy is shown to have the potential to correlate further afield, with sections in Iran, as well as with India, Siberia, Morocco and Australia. We suggest that a distinctive positive excursion provides a global marker for the interval between Marker B and C in China and just below the Tommotian Stage of Siberia.

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