Diet-tissue discrimination of δ13C and δ15N in freshwater crustacean
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Date
2013-07-10
Authors
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Publisher
University of Western Australia
Abstract
Knowledge and understanding of discrimination factors (d13C and d15N) for carbon-13(d13C) and nitrogen-15 (d15N) are important when using stable isotopes for trophodynamic studies. We performed a controlled laboratory diet-switch experiment to examine diet–tissue discrimination factors for muscle, carapace and stomach tissues of freshwater crustacean, Cherax destructor. A range of diets of differing d13C and d15N isotopic values were fed to C.
destructor until equilibrium. For the various tissue types, d15N discrimination was highest in muscle, followed by carapace then stomach, whilst d13C was highest in carapace followed by stomach, then muscle. The resulting diet–muscle discrimination factors were similar to, but varied from the 1‰ for d13C and 3.4‰ for and d15N values that are often used for diet-muscle discrimination. The results highlight variation among differing diet types, and consumer tissue types as applied to stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes in the food-web studies.
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Keywords
Carbon, Nitrogen, Isotopes, Crustaceans, Diet, Stomach
Citation
Mazumder, D., Johansen, M., & Davis, E. (2013). Diet-tissue discrimination of δ13C and δ15N in freshwater crustacean. Paper presented at the 12th Australasian Environmental Isotope Conference, 10th-12th July 2013, University of Western Australia, Perth.