Atkins Kelly, Bearhop Stuart, Bodey Thomas W, Grecian W James, Hamer Keith, Pereira Jorge M, Meinertzhagen Hannah, Mitchell Chris, Morgan Greg, Morgan Lisa, Newton Jason, Sherley Richard B, Votier Stephen C
Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, Cornwall, UK.
School of Biological Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK.
Rapid Commun Mass Spectrom. 2023 May 15;37(9):e9489. doi: 10.1002/rcm.9489.
By combining precision satellite-tracking with blood sampling, seabirds can be used to validate marine carbon and nitrogen isoscapes, but it is unclear whether a comparable approach using low-precision light-level geolocators (GLS) and feather sampling can be similarly effective.
Here we used GLS to identify wintering areas of northern gannets (Morus bassanus) and sampled winter grown feathers (confirmed from image analysis of non-breeding birds) to test for spatial gradients in δ C and δ N in the NE Atlantic.
By matching winter-grown feathers with the non-breeding location of tracked birds we found latitudinal gradients in δ C and δ N in neritic waters. Moreover, isotopic patterns were best explained by sea surface temperature. Similar isotope gradients were found in fish muscle sampled at local ports.
Our study reveals the potential of using seabird GLS and feathers to reconstruct large-scale isotopic patterns.
通过将精确的卫星跟踪与血液采样相结合，海鸟可用于验证海洋碳和氮同位素景观，但尚不清楚使用低精度光级地理定位器（GLS）和羽毛采样的类似方法是否同样有效。
在此，我们使用GLS确定北方塘鹅（Morus bassanus）的越冬区域，并采集冬季生长的羽毛（通过对非繁殖期鸟类的图像分析确认），以测试东北大西洋δC和δN的空间梯度。
通过将冬季生长的羽毛与跟踪鸟类的非繁殖地点相匹配，我们发现浅海海域δC和δN存在纬度梯度。此外，同位素模式最好由海表面温度来解释。在当地港口采集的鱼类肌肉中也发现了类似的同位素梯度。
我们的研究揭示了利用海鸟GLS和羽毛重建大规模同位素模式的潜力。
