This chapter gives an introduction to isotope notation, calculations, and measurement.The beginner should probably read only the first section, 2.1, then skip on to Chapter 3 which reviews ecological applications of these isotope tracers. Reading Section 2.1 should allow you to understand the rest of the book, and reading the remaining sections 2.2 to 2.4 of this chapter should deepen your understanding as you read the wider isotope literature. There are also three detailed technical supplements for this chapter on the accompanying CD.
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Further Reading
Section 2.1
Avak, H., A. Hilkert A, and R. Pesch. 1996. Forensic studies by EA-IRMS. Isotopes in Environmental and Health Studies 32:285-288.
Barrie, A. and S.J. Prosser. 1996.Automated analysis of light-element stable isotopes by isotope ratio mass spectrometry. In T.W. Boutton and S. Yamasaki (eds.), Mass Spectrometry of Soils. Marcel Dekker, New York, pp. 1-46.
Brand, W.A. 1996. High precision isotope ratio monitoring techniques in mass spectrometry. Journal of Mass Spectrometry 31:225-235.
Boutton, S.W. 1991. Stable carbon isotope ratios of natural materials: I. Sample preparation and mass spectrometric analysis. In D.C. Coleman and B. Fry (eds.), Carbon Isotope Techniques. Academic Press, San Diego, CA, pp. 155-172.
Bowling, D.R., S.D. Sargent, B.D.Tanner, and J.R. Ehleringer. 2003.Tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy for stable isotope studies of ecosystem-atmosphere CO2 exchange. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 188:1-19.
Brenna, J.T., T.N. Corso, H.J. Tobias, and R.J. Caimi. 1997. High-precision continuous-flow isotope ratio mass spectrometry. Mass Spectrometry Reviews 16:227-258.
Coplen, T.B. 1983. Comparison of stable isotope reference standards. Nature 302:236-238.
Coplen, T.B. 1996. Ratios for light-element isotopes standardized for better interlaboratory comparion. EOS 77:255-256.
Coplen, T.B. and H.R. Krouse. 1998. Sulphur isotope data consistency improved. Nature 392:32.
Corso, T.N. and J.T. Brenna. 1997. High-precision position-specific isotope analysis. In Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 94:1049-1053.
Ding, T., S. Valkiers, H. Kipphardt, P. De Bievre, P.D.P. Taylor, R. Gonfiantini, and R. Krouse. 2001. Calibrated sulfur isotope abundance ratios of three IAEA sulfur isotope reference materials and V-CDT with a reassessment of the atomic weight of sulfur. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 65:2433-2437.
Farquhar, G.D., J.R. Ehleringer, and K.T. Hubick. 1989. Carbon isotope discrimination and photosynthesis. Annual Review of Plant Physiology and Plant Molecular Biology 40:503-537.
Fry, B. 2003. Steady state models of stable isotope distributions. Isotopes in Environmental and Health Studies 39:219-232.
Ghosh P. and W.A. Brand. 2003. Stable isotope ratio mass spectrometry in global climate change research. International Journal of Mass Spectrometry 228:1-33.
Griffiths, I.W. 1977. J.J. Thompson—the centenary of his discovery of the electron and his invention of mass spectrometry. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry 11:1-16.
Hayes, J.M. 2002. Practice and principles of isotopic measurements in organic geochemistry. http://www.nosams.whoi.edu/docs/IsoNotesAug02.pdf
Hayes, J.M. 2004. An introduction to isotopic calculations. http://www.nosams.whoi.edu/docs/IsoCalcs.pdf
Hoefs, J. 2004. Stable Isotope Geochemistry, 5th Edition. Springer-Verlag, New York.
Hulston, J.R. and H.G. Thode. 1965.Variations in the S33, S34 and S36 contents of meteorites and their relation to chemical and nuclear effects. Journal of Geophysical Research 70:3475-3484.
Lancaster, J. and S. Waldron. 2001. Stable isotope values of lotic invertebrates: Sources of variation, experimental design, and statistical interpretation. Limnology and Oceanography 46:723-730.
Los Gatos Research. www.LGRinc.com.
Mook, W.G. 2000. Environmental Isotopes in the Hydrological Cycle, Principles and Applica- tions. Available on-line from http://www.iaea.org/programmes/ripc/ih/volumes/volumes.htm
Mulvaney, R.L. 1993. Mass spectrometry. In R. Knowles and T.H. Blackburn (eds.), Nitrogen Isotope Techniques. Academic Press, San Diego, CA, pp. 11-58.
Sieper, H-P., H-J. Kupka, T. Williams, A. Rossmann, S. Rummel, N. Tanz, and H-L. Schmidt. 2006. A measuring system for the fast simultaneous isotope ratio and elemental analysis of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and sulfur in food commodities and other biological material. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry 20:2521-2527.
Section 2.2
Fry, 2003. Listed above; see Section 2.1 readings.
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Fry, B. (2006). Isotope Notation and Measurement. In: Stable Isotope Ecology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-33745-8_2
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