Hobson Keith A, Montevecchi William A
Department of Biology, University of Saskatchewan, S7N OWO, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Department of Psychology, Memorial University of Newfoundland, A1B 3X9, St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada.
Oecologia. 1991 Sep;87(4):528-531. doi: 10.1007/BF00320416.
Stable isotopic ratios of animal tissues are related to those of their foods and can be used in palaeoecological reconstructions, including those of extinct animals. Nitrogen isotopic analyses of marine organisms from coastal Newfoundland and Georges Bank were used to construct a model predicting collagen δN values for seabirds feeding at various trophic levels (TL). This model was tested by measuring bone collagen δN values of extant alcids from the northwest Atlantic and high Arctic. Isotopic analysis of bone collagen of the extinct great auk (Pinguinus impennis), the last flightless seabird in the northern hemisphere, indicate that this species occupied a trophic continuum from TL3 (crustacean diets) to TL5 (diets of piscivorous fish). We suggest that (a) great auk chicks and juveniles occupied lower trophic levels and probably consumed euphausiids, and (b) great auks fed offspring via regurgitation, as do dovekies (Alle alle), the only extant fully planktivorous alcid in the Atlantic, and unrelated penguins of the southern hemisphere.
动物组织的稳定同位素比率与其食物的稳定同位素比率相关，可用于古生态重建，包括已灭绝动物的古生态重建。对来自纽芬兰海岸和乔治浅滩的海洋生物进行氮同位素分析，以构建一个模型，预测处于不同营养级（TL）的海鸟的胶原蛋白δN值。通过测量来自西北大西洋和北极地区现存海雀的骨骼胶原蛋白δN值对该模型进行了测试。对北半球最后一种不会飞的海鸟——已灭绝的大海雀（Pinguinus impennis）的骨骼胶原蛋白进行同位素分析表明，该物种占据了从营养级3（甲壳类食物）到营养级5（食鱼性鱼类食物）的营养连续体。我们认为：（a）大海雀雏鸟和幼鸟处于较低营养级，可能以磷虾为食；（b）大海雀像角海雀（Alle alle，大西洋现存唯一完全以浮游生物为食的海雀）和南半球无关的企鹅一样，通过反刍来喂养后代。
