About 10 years ago, reviews of the use of stable isotopes in animal ecology predicted explosive growth in this field and called for laboratory experiments to provide a mechanistic foundation to this growth. They identified four major areas of inquiry: (1) the dynamics of isotopic incorporation, (2) mixing models, (3) the problem of routing, and (4) trophic discrimination factors. Because these areas remain central to isotopic ecology, we use them as organising foci to review the experimental results that isotopic ecologists have collected in the intervening 10 years since the call for laboratory experiments. We also review the models that have been built to explain and organise experimental results in these areas.
For decades, plant ecologists have used naturally occurring stable isotope ratios to disentangle ecological and physiological processes. The methodology can also become a very powerful tool in animal ecology. However, the application of the technique relies on assumptions that are not widely recognized and that have been rarely tested. The purpose of this communication is to identify these assumptions, to characterize the conditions in which they are not met, and to suggest the laboratory experiments that are needed to validate them. The ease with which isotopic data can be gathered and the growing popularity of the method are generating a large amount of data on the isotopic ecology of animals. The proper interpretation of these data demands that we identify the assumptions on which these inferences are based, and that we conduct comparative laboratory experiments to assess their validity.
For decades, plant ecologists have used naturally occurring stable isotope ratios to disentangle ecological and physiological processes. The methodology can also become a very powerful tool in animal ecology. However, the application of the technique relies on assumptions that are not widely recognized and that have been rarely tested. The purpose of this communication is to identify these assumptions, to characterize the conditions in which they are not met, and to suggest the laboratory experiments that are needed to validate them. The ease with which isotopic data can be gathered and the growing popularity of the method are generating a large amount of data on the isotopic ecology of animals. The proper interpretation of these data demands that we identify the assumptions on which these inferences are based, and that we conduct comparative laboratory experiments to assess their validity.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.