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Disentangling effects of growth and nutritional status on seabird stable isotope ratios

  • Physiological Ecology - Original Paper
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Abstract

A growing number of studies suggest that an individual’s physiology affects its carbon and nitrogen stable isotope signatures, obscuring a signal often assumed to be only a reflection of diet and foraging location. We examined effects of growth and moderate food restriction on red blood cell (RBC) and feather δ15N and δ13C in rhinoceros auklet chicks (Cerorhinca monocerata), a piscivorous seabird. Chicks were reared in captivity and fed either control (75 g/day; n = 7) or ~40% restricted (40 g/day; n = 6) amounts of high quality forage fish. We quantified effects of growth on isotopic fractionation by comparing δ15N and δ13C in control chicks to those of captive, non-growing subadult auklets (n = 11) fed the same diet. To estimate natural levels of isotopic variation, we also collected blood from a random sample of free-living rhinoceros auklet adults and chicks in the Gulf of Alaska (n = 15 for each), as well as adult feather samples (n = 13). In the captive experiment, moderate food restriction caused significant depletion in δ15N of both RBCs and feathers in treatment chicks compared to control chicks. Growth also induced depletion in RBC δ15N, with chicks exhibiting lower δ15N when they were growing the fastest. As growth slowed, δ15N increased, resulting in an overall pattern of enrichment over the course of the nestling period. Combined effects of growth and restriction depleted δ15N in chick RBCs by 0.92‰. We propose that increased nitrogen-use efficiency is responsible for 15N depletion in both growing and food-restricted chicks. δ15N values in RBCs of free-ranging auklets fell within a range of only 1.03‰, while feather δ15N varied widely. Together, our captive and field results suggest that both growth and moderate food restriction can affect stable isotope ratios in an ecologically meaningful way in RBCs although not feathers due to greater natural variability in this tissue.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the 2006 and 2007 Middleton Island crews for egg collection and assistance in the field, and T. Howe and N. Haubenstock at the Alaska Stable Isotope Facility who performed isotopic analysis. We also thank R. Lord, C. Williams, M. Schultz, M. Benowitz-Fredericks, A. Keech, J. Brewer and the UAF Animal Quarters staff for help rearing and bleeding chicks. The captive portion of the study was supported by a grant from the UAF Institute of Arctic Biology to A. S. Kitaysky. The US Geological Survey, Alaska Science Center covered field costs. J.S. was supported by a graduate fellowship from Alaska EPSCoR and a grant from the Angus Gavin Memorial Bird Research Fund, which also covered all costs of stable isotope analysis. A. Powell, C. Williams, S. Oppel, and two anonymous reviewers provided many helpful comments on earlier versions of this manuscript. All captive and field procedures were approved by UAF IACUC (Assurance # 07–28). The use of trade, firm, or corporation names in this publication is for the convenience of the reader. Such use does not constitute an official endorsement or approval by the US Government of any product or service to the exclusion of others that may be suitable.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology and Wildlife, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, 99775, USA

    Justine Sears & Diane M. O’Brien

  2. US Geological Survey, Alaska Science Center, 1011 E. Tudor Rd., Anchorage, AK, 99503, USA

    Scott A. Hatch

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  1. Justine Sears
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  2. Scott A. Hatch
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  3. Diane M. O’Brien
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Correspondence to Justine Sears.

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Communicated by Jacek Radwan.

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Sears, J., Hatch, S.A. & O’Brien, D.M. Disentangling effects of growth and nutritional status on seabird stable isotope ratios. Oecologia 159, 41–48 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-008-1199-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-008-1199-3

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