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Application of Nitrogen and Carbon Stable Isotopes (δ15N and δ13C) to Quantify Food Chain Length and Trophic Structure

Matthew Perkins, Robbie A. McDonald, F. J. Frank van Veen, Simon D. Kelly, Gareth Rees, Stuart Bearhop

PLoS ONE, Volume: 9, Issue: 3, Start page: e93281

Swansea University Author: Matthew Perkins

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DOI (Published version): 10.1371/journal.pone.0093281

Abstract

Increasingly, stable isotope ratios of nitrogen (d15N) and carbon (d13C) are used to quantify trophic structure, thoughrelatively few studies have tested accuracy of isotopic structural measures. For laboratory-raised and wild-collected plantinvertebratefood chains spanning four trophic levels we es...

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Published in: PLoS ONE
ISSN: 1932-6203
Published: 2014
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa44817
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spelling 2018-10-09T16:18:36.3887272 v2 44817 2018-10-09 Application of Nitrogen and Carbon Stable Isotopes (δ15N and δ13C) to Quantify Food Chain Length and Trophic Structure 228a9ab1324cbc8f7a0db0043a6f0a0a Matthew Perkins Matthew Perkins true false 2018-10-09 SBI Increasingly, stable isotope ratios of nitrogen (d15N) and carbon (d13C) are used to quantify trophic structure, thoughrelatively few studies have tested accuracy of isotopic structural measures. For laboratory-raised and wild-collected plantinvertebratefood chains spanning four trophic levels we estimated nitrogen range (NR) using d15N, and carbon range (CR)using d13C, which are used to quantify food chain length and breadth of trophic resources respectively. Across a range ofknown food chain lengths we examined how NR and CR changed within and between food chains. Our isotopic estimatesof structure are robust because they were calculated using resampling procedures that propagate variance in sample meansthrough to quantified uncertainty in final estimates. To identify origins of uncertainty in estimates of NR and CR, weadditionally examined variation in discrimination (which is change in d15N or d13C from source to consumer) betweentrophic levels and among food chains. d15N discrimination showed significant enrichment, while variation in enrichmentwas species and system specific, ranged broadly (1.4% to 3.3%), and importantly, propagated variation to subsequentestimates of NR. However, NR proved robust to such variation and distinguished food chain length well, though someoverlap between longer food chains infers a need for awareness of such limitations. d13C discrimination was inconsistent;generally no change or small significant enrichment was observed. Consequently, estimates of CR changed little withincreasing food chain length, showing the potential utility of d13C as a tracer of energy pathways. This study serves as arobust test of isotopic quantification of food chain structure, and given global estimates of aquatic food chains approximatefour trophic levels while many food chains include invertebrates, our use of four trophic level plant-invertebrate food chainsmakes our findings relevant for a majority of ecological systems. Journal Article PLoS ONE 9 3 e93281 1932-6203 27 3 2014 2014-03-27 10.1371/journal.pone.0093281 COLLEGE NANME Biosciences COLLEGE CODE SBI Swansea University The Food and Environment Research Agency 2018-10-09T16:18:36.3887272 2018-10-09T15:58:11.3529593 Faculty of Science and Engineering School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences Matthew Perkins 1 Robbie A. McDonald 2 F. J. Frank van Veen 3 Simon D. Kelly 4 Gareth Rees 5 Stuart Bearhop 6
title Application of Nitrogen and Carbon Stable Isotopes (δ15N and δ13C) to Quantify Food Chain Length and Trophic Structure
spellingShingle Application of Nitrogen and Carbon Stable Isotopes (δ15N and δ13C) to Quantify Food Chain Length and Trophic Structure
Matthew Perkins
title_short Application of Nitrogen and Carbon Stable Isotopes (δ15N and δ13C) to Quantify Food Chain Length and Trophic Structure
title_full Application of Nitrogen and Carbon Stable Isotopes (δ15N and δ13C) to Quantify Food Chain Length and Trophic Structure
title_fullStr Application of Nitrogen and Carbon Stable Isotopes (δ15N and δ13C) to Quantify Food Chain Length and Trophic Structure
title_full_unstemmed Application of Nitrogen and Carbon Stable Isotopes (δ15N and δ13C) to Quantify Food Chain Length and Trophic Structure
title_sort Application of Nitrogen and Carbon Stable Isotopes (δ15N and δ13C) to Quantify Food Chain Length and Trophic Structure
author_id_str_mv 228a9ab1324cbc8f7a0db0043a6f0a0a
author_id_fullname_str_mv 228a9ab1324cbc8f7a0db0043a6f0a0a_***_Matthew Perkins
author Matthew Perkins
author2 Matthew Perkins
Robbie A. McDonald
F. J. Frank van Veen
Simon D. Kelly
Gareth Rees
Stuart Bearhop
format Journal article
container_title PLoS ONE
container_volume 9
container_issue 3
container_start_page e93281
publishDate 2014
institution Swansea University
issn 1932-6203
doi_str_mv 10.1371/journal.pone.0093281
college_str Faculty of Science and Engineering
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hierarchy_top_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
department_str School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Science and Engineering{{{_:::_}}}School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences
document_store_str 0
active_str 0
description Increasingly, stable isotope ratios of nitrogen (d15N) and carbon (d13C) are used to quantify trophic structure, thoughrelatively few studies have tested accuracy of isotopic structural measures. For laboratory-raised and wild-collected plantinvertebratefood chains spanning four trophic levels we estimated nitrogen range (NR) using d15N, and carbon range (CR)using d13C, which are used to quantify food chain length and breadth of trophic resources respectively. Across a range ofknown food chain lengths we examined how NR and CR changed within and between food chains. Our isotopic estimatesof structure are robust because they were calculated using resampling procedures that propagate variance in sample meansthrough to quantified uncertainty in final estimates. To identify origins of uncertainty in estimates of NR and CR, weadditionally examined variation in discrimination (which is change in d15N or d13C from source to consumer) betweentrophic levels and among food chains. d15N discrimination showed significant enrichment, while variation in enrichmentwas species and system specific, ranged broadly (1.4% to 3.3%), and importantly, propagated variation to subsequentestimates of NR. However, NR proved robust to such variation and distinguished food chain length well, though someoverlap between longer food chains infers a need for awareness of such limitations. d13C discrimination was inconsistent;generally no change or small significant enrichment was observed. Consequently, estimates of CR changed little withincreasing food chain length, showing the potential utility of d13C as a tracer of energy pathways. This study serves as arobust test of isotopic quantification of food chain structure, and given global estimates of aquatic food chains approximatefour trophic levels while many food chains include invertebrates, our use of four trophic level plant-invertebrate food chainsmakes our findings relevant for a majority of ecological systems.
published_date 2014-03-27T03:56:15Z
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