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The influence of diet and water on the stable oxygen and hydrogen isotope composition of Chironomidae (Diptera) with paleoecological implications

  • Physiological Ecology - Original Paper
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Abstract

Stable oxygen and hydrogen isotope analyses of fossil aquatic organisms, such as the chitinous head capsules of chironomid larvae (Chironomidae: Diptera), are promising proxies for inferring paleoecological conditions. In order for analyses of stable oxygen (δ18O) and hydrogen isotope ratios (δ2H) of fossil chironomid head capsules to be used effectively in paleoecological research, it is necessary to understand the factors controlling their stable oxygen and hydrogen composition. We cultured chironomid larvae in two isotopically distinct waters under controlled, replicated laboratory conditions. Chironomid larvae were fed on identical diets, to examine the degree to which water and diet influence the δ18O and δ2H of these organisms. We used a two-end member mixing model to determine the proportional contributions of oxygen and hydrogen from water to the oxygen and hydrogen of chironomid larvae. Our experiment demonstrated that 69.0 ± 0.4% of oxygen and 30.8 ± 2.6% of hydrogen in chironomid larvae are derived from habitat water. Our results show that oxygen isotopes from chironomid remains can better constrain past habitat water isotopic changes compared to hydrogen, due to 69% of the chironomid oxygen being influenced by habitat water. Our data add to a small but growing suite of comparative data on the sources of oxygen and hydrogen in animal tissues, and provide the first such analyses from aquatic insects.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by a National Science Foundation grant (ESH-0317766) and a National Institute for Water Research grant (no. G-3077) awarded to Dr Matthew Wooller. This publication is also the result, in part, of research sponsored by the Cooperative Institute for Arctic Research (project CIPY-01) with funds from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration under cooperative agreement NA17RJ1224 with the University of Alaska. We thank the Wilson Environmental Laboratories and EPA Mid-continent Ecology Division for supplying chironomid egg masses. We thank the WERC at UAF for accommodating our growth experiment. Special thanks to the WERC laboratory manager Shane Billing for numerous suggestions to modify our growth chamber setup and also for helping us fetch water. Our thanks also go to Tim Howe and Norma Haubenstock at the ASIF for laboratory support. We also thank Dr Jonathan Grey and an anonymous reviewer for their very constructive and positive reviews of our paper.

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Author notes

  1. Yiming V. Wang

    Present address: Institute of Geosciences, University of Kiel, 24118, Kiel, Germany

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Alaska Stable Isotope Facility, Water & Environmental Research Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, 99775, USA

    Yiming V. Wang & M. J. Wooller

  2. Department of Geology & Geophysics, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, 99775, USA

    Yiming V. Wang

  3. Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, 99775, USA

    D. M. O’Brien

  4. Wilson Environmental Laboratories Incorporated, Duluth, MN, 55802, USA

    J. Jenson

  5. Department of Geosciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, 01003, USA

    D. Francis

  6. School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, 99775, USA

    M. J. Wooller

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  1. Yiming V. Wang
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  2. D. M. O’Brien
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  4. D. Francis
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Correspondence to Yiming V. Wang.

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Communicated by Craig Osenberg.

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Wang, Y.V., O’Brien, D.M., Jenson, J. et al. The influence of diet and water on the stable oxygen and hydrogen isotope composition of Chironomidae (Diptera) with paleoecological implications. Oecologia 160, 225–233 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-009-1303-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-009-1303-3

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