Smith Chris R, Tillberg Chadwick V
School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA.
Cold Spring Harb Protoc. 2009 Jul;2009(7):pdb.prot5242. doi: 10.1101/pdb.prot5242.
Over the past 20 yr, the use of stable isotopes to infer feeding ecology and the examination of how energetic and elemental exchanges are affected by and affect life (ecological stoichiometry) have gained momentum. The ecological diversity of ants makes them interesting models to explore dietary ecology and their role in food webs. Moreover, their ecological dominance in most habitats facilitates sampling. The protocol described here will produce samples adequate for submission to most labs that specialize in high-throughput analysis of stable isotopes; one should check with any particular lab for specific submission instructions. Note, however, that this protocol is designed specifically for the quantification of the natural abundance of stable isotopes; it does not cover the preparation of trace samples.
在过去20年里，利用稳定同位素推断摄食生态以及研究能量和元素交换如何受生命影响并影响生命（生态化学计量学）的研究日益兴起。蚂蚁的生态多样性使其成为探索饮食生态及其在食物网中作用的有趣模型。此外，它们在大多数栖息地的生态优势便于进行采样。这里描述的方案将产生足以提交给大多数专门从事稳定同位素高通量分析的实验室的样本；应向任何特定实验室查询具体的提交说明。然而，请注意，该方案是专门为定量稳定同位素的自然丰度而设计的；它不包括痕量样品的制备。
