Advanced stable isotope analyses of seabird feathers - ecological segregation and historical changes in trophic levels across four Antarctic and subantarctic seabird communities

海鸟羽毛的高级稳定同位素分析 - 四个南极和亚南极海鸟群落的生态隔离和营养级的历史变化

• 批准号: 313397752
• 负责人: Professorin Dr. Petra Quillfeldt, Ph.D.
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: ArbeitsgruppeTierökologie
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Infrastructure Priority Programmes
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 德国
• 起止时间: 2015-12-31 至 2016-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/313397752?language=en
• 关键词: Advanced; stable; isotope; analyses; seabird

Bulk nitrogen and carbon stable isotope analyses provide a useful tool to investigate ecological segregation within and among species in the marine environment, and can give insights in trophic positions and spatial distribution. However, in many contexts the interpretation of stable isotope values is hampered by a lack of isotopic baseline data. For example, we can now follow even small seabirds such as storm petrels during their year-round movements at sea, and when they moult in distant waters, information on their diet is conserved in their feathers which can then be sampled on land. However, we often cannot obtain diet samples from those distant waters that would provide an isotopic baseline. However, two advanced stable isotope techniques can overcome such shortages: Compound-specific analyses of amino acids (CSIA, proposed in 2002 by McClelland and Montoya) and the analysis of hydrogen stable isotope ratios (HSIA, proposed by Ostrom et al. 2014). CSIA is based on the fact that animals do not change certain essential amino acids (e.g. phenylalanine), while other amino acids change largely between diet and consumer (e.g. glutamic acid). Thus, trophic position can be obtained from the difference in the nitrogen stable isotope values of glutamic acid and phenylalanine. HSIA has been proposed as a tool to distinguish between petrel diets consisting of isosmotic squid and crustaceans and those composed mainly of hyposmotic teleost fish. As salt load differs between isosmotic and hyposmotic diets, isotopic discrimination associated with water loss during salt excretion through salt glands may lead to deuterium-enriched tissues when consuming more isosmotic diets. The aim of the present study is to enhance our understanding of the ecological segregation in seabird communities using these advanced stable isotope analyses. In a comparative community study, we will analyse the trophic structure of four seabird communities from the Antarctic und Sub-Antarctic, with emphasis on small petrels. The study design offers unique possibilities to test hypotheses on the distribution of trophic levels in communities differing in the number of ecologically similar species and among species differing in their distribution (winter distribution ranges from subtropical to polar). Furthermore, we will analyse inter-annual differences and historic changes in the feeding ecology of pelagic petrels in polar waters: We will analyse feathers taken during previous multi-year studies in two petrel species covering several years of different food availability, as well as historical feathers of several species dating back ca. 60-100 years, to investigate changes in trophic levels. This study aligns with the aims of the SPP1158, especially the topics Gateways to lower latitudes - by comparing Antarctic and subantarctic communities - and Response to environmental change - by determining inter-annual and historical changes, and relating them to changes in food availability.

体积氮和碳稳定的同位素分析提供了一种有用的工具，可以研究海洋环境中物种内部和物种之间的生态分离，并可以为营养位置和空间分布提供见解。但是，在许多情况下，缺乏同位素基线数据，稳定同位素值的解释会阻碍。例如，我们现在甚至可以在全年的海上运动中以及在遥远水域中蜕皮时，即使是小型海鸟，例如暴风雨，饮食中的信息就可以在他们的羽毛中保存下来，然后可以在陆地上进行采样。但是，我们通常无法从那些提供同位素基线的遥远水域中获取饮食样品。但是，两种先进的稳定同位素技术可以克服这种短缺：氨基酸的化合物特异性分析（CSIA，McClelland和Montoya于2002年提出），以及氢稳定的同位素比率的分析（HSIA（HSIA，由Ostrom等人提出）。 CSIA基于以下事实：动物不会改变某些必需氨基酸（例如苯丙氨酸），而其他氨基酸在饮食和消费者之间很大变化（例如谷氨酸）。因此，可以从谷氨酸和苯丙氨酸的氮稳定同位素值的差异中获得营养位置。已经提出了HSIA作为区分由同质鱿鱼和甲壳类动物组成的石油饮食以及主要由低渗性硬骨鱼组成的工具。随着盐负荷在同质饮食和低质性饮食之间的不同之处，与盐腺体排泄过程中与水分流失相关的同位素歧视可能会导致甲状腺含量富集的组织在消耗更多的同性饮食时。本研究的目的是通过这些先进的同位素分析来增强我们对海鸟群落中生态分离的理解。在一项比较社区的研究中，我们将分析来自南极和亚抗激素的四个海鸟群落的营养结构，重点是小海心。研究设计提供了独特的可能性来检验关于生态相似物种数量以及其分布不同（冬季分布范围从亚热带到极地）不同的社区中营养水平分布的假设。此外，我们将分析极性水域pelagic petrels喂养生态的年度差异和历史变化：我们将分析在以前的多年研究中对两种石油物种进行的羽毛，涵盖了几年不同的食物可用性，以及几种日期后CA的历史羽毛。 60 - 100年，研究营养水平的变化。这项研究与SPP1158的目的，尤其是降低纬度的主题门户的目标 - 通过比较南极和亚无危的社区，以及对环境变化的反应 - 通过确定青年时期和历史变化，并将其与食品可用性的变化有关。

项目成果

Testing the usefulness of hydrogen and compound-specific stable isotope analyses in seabird feathers: a case study in two sympatric Antarctic storm-petrels

• DOI: 10.1007/s00227-017-3224-8
• 发表时间: 2017-09
• 期刊: Marine Biology
• 影响因子: 2.4
• 作者: P. Quillfeldt;S. Thorn;Benjamin Richter;M. Nabte;N. Coria;J. Masello;M. Massaro;Verónica C Neves