Improving the accuracy of stable isotope analysis in ecological studies of wildlife and helminth parasites
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Date
2017
Authors
Li, Chenhua
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Abstract
Stable isotope analysis (SIA) is increasingly being used to reconstruct wildlife diets and determine trophic structure in ecological communities. These analyses incorporate diet -tissue discrimination factors (DTDFs) and assumptions about tissue turnover rates that are unknown for many species. Further, DTDFs and turnover rates can be affected by many factors, so it is often unclear whether values derived from different species or under particular conditions (e.g. diet) can be used. Using controlled feeding studies, we determined DTDFs and turnover rates for freshwater snail species and found that diet quality had a strong effect on DTDF. Incorporation rates differed depending upon diet quality and snail feeding habits. After understanding factors that influence stable isotope ratios, we used SIA to determine how diet influenced parasite transmission in muskrat hosts. By integrating SIA and parasitism, we determined food items to sample for SIA models, and gained novel insights into parasite life cycles and transmission.
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Keywords
Stable isotopes, Parasitism