scholarly journals Progress and challenges in using stable isotopes to trace plant carbon and water relations across scales

2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 3083-3111 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Werner ◽  
H. Schnyder ◽  
M. Cuntz ◽  
C. Keitel ◽  
M. J. Zeeman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotope ◽  
Water Relations ◽  
Interdisciplinary Research ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Isotope Analysis ◽  
Biogeochemical Processes ◽  
Technological Developments ◽  
Temporal And Spatial ◽  
New Research ◽  
Insight Into

Abstract. Stable isotope analysis is a powerful tool for assessing plant carbon and water relations and their impact on biogeochemical processes at different scales. Our process-based understanding of stable isotope signals, as well as technological developments, has progressed significantly, opening new frontiers in ecological and interdisciplinary research. This has promoted the broad utilisation of carbon, oxygen and hydrogen isotope applications to gain insight into plant carbon and water cycling and their interaction with the atmosphere and pedosphere. Here, we highlight specific areas of recent progress and new research challenges in plant carbon and water relations, using selected examples covering scales from the leaf to the regional scale. Further, we discuss strengths and limitations of recent technological developments and approaches and highlight new opportunities arising from unprecedented temporal and spatial resolution of stable isotope measurements.

scholarly journals Linking carbon and water cycles using stable isotopes across scales: progress and challenges

2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 2659-2719 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Werner ◽  
F. Badeck ◽  
E. Brugnoli ◽  
B. Cohn ◽  
M. Cuntz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Isotope Analysis ◽  
Biogeochemical Processes ◽  
Powerful Approach ◽  
Oxygen And Hydrogen Isotopes ◽  
Technological Developments ◽  
Temporal And Spatial ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Simultaneous Assessment ◽  
Water Cycles

Abstract. Stable isotope analysis is a powerful tool for tracing biogeochemical processes in the carbon and water cycles. One particularly powerful approach is to employ multiple isotopes where the simultaneous assessment of the D/H,18O/16O and/or 13C/12C in different compounds provide a unique means to investigate the coupling of water and carbon fluxes at various temporal and spatial scales. Here, we present a research update on recent advances in our process-based understanding of the utilization of carbon, oxygen and hydrogen isotopes to lend insight into carbon and water cycling. We highlight recent technological developments and approaches, their strengths and methodological precautions with examples covering scales from minutes to centuries and from the leaf to the globe.

Stable isotope analysis of fecal material provides insight into the diet of fin whales

2018 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 1059-1069 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marina Arregui ◽  
Asunción Borrell ◽  
Gisli Víkingsson ◽  
Droplaug Ólafsdóttir ◽  
Alex Aguilar
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotope ◽  
Stable Isotope Analysis ◽  
Isotope Analysis ◽  
Fecal Material ◽  
Fin Whales ◽  
Insight Into

Avian embryonic development does not change the stable isotope composition of the calcite eggshell

2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 339 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Maurer ◽  
S. J. Portugal ◽  
I. Boomer ◽  
P. Cassey
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotope ◽  
Embryonic Development ◽  
Developmental Stages ◽  
Isotope Composition ◽  
Trophic Relationships ◽  
Avian Embryo ◽  
Stable Isotope Composition ◽  
Spatial Use ◽  
Temporal And Spatial ◽  
Insight Into

The avian embryo resorbs most of the calcium for bone formation from the calcite eggshell but the exact mechanisms of the resorption are unknown. The present study tested whether this process results in variable fractionation of the oxygen and carbon isotopes in shell calcium carbonate, which could provide a detailed insight into the temporal and spatial use of the eggshell by the developing embryo. Despite the uncertainty regarding changes in stable isotope composition of the eggshell across developmental stages or regions of the shell, eggshells are a popular resource for the analysis of historic and extant trophic relationships. To clarify how the stable isotope composition varies with embryonic development, the δ13C and δ18O content of the carbonate fraction in shells of black-headed gull (Larus ridibundus) eggs were sampled at four different stages of embryonic development and at five eggshell regions. No consistent relationship between the stable isotope composition of the eggshell and embryonic development, shell region or maculation was observed, although shell thickness decreased with development in all shell regions. By contrast, individual eggs differed significantly in isotope composition. These results establish that eggshells can be used to investigate a species’ carbon and oxygen sources, regardless of the egg’s developmental stage.

Stable-isotope analysis: a neglected tool for placing parasites in food webs

2018 ◽  
Vol 93 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.J.M. Sabadel ◽  
A.D. Stumbo ◽  
C.D. MacLeod
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotope ◽  
Food Webs ◽  
Stable Isotope Analysis ◽  
Isotope Analysis ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Isotope Studies ◽  
Food Web Theory ◽  
Ubiquitous Presence ◽  
Insight Into

AbstractParasites are often overlooked in the construction of food webs, despite their ubiquitous presence in almost every type of ecosystem. Researchers who do recognize their importance often struggle to include parasites using classical food-web theory, mainly due to the parasites' multiple hosts and life stages. A novel approach using compound-specific stable-isotope analysis promises to provide considerable insight into the energetic exchanges of parasite and host, which may solve some of the issues inherent in incorporating parasites using a classical approach. Understanding the role of parasites within food webs, and tracing the associated biomass transfers, are crucial to constructing new models that will expand our knowledge of food webs. This mini-review focuses on stable-isotope studies published in the past decade, and introduces compound-specific stable-isotope analysis as a powerful, but underutilized, newly developed tool that may answer many unresolved questions regarding the role of parasites in food webs.

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