Journal Article
Quantifying terrestrial carbon in freshwater food webs using amino acid isotope analysis: Case study with an endemic cavefish
Liew, J.H., Chua, K.W.J., Arsenault, E.R, Thorp, J.H., Suvarnaraksha, A., Amirrudin, A. and Yeo, D.C.J.
Record Number:
5232
Year:
2019
Journal:
Methods in Ecology and Evolution
Pages:
1594-1605
Volume:
10
Abstract:
1. Flow of terrestrial carbon though aquatic ecosystems (allochthony) is an important
but underestimated component of the global carbon cycle. A lack of clear
consensus about the importance of allochthonous (terrestrial) organic carbon is
sometimes attributed to uncertainties associated with conventional ‘bulk’ isotope
data, the most widely used ecological tracer.
2. Amino acid‐specific isotope analysis is an emerging research method promising
to address existing limitations of bulk C and N isotope analyses. We tested the
efficacy of amino acid δ13C data as a generalizable measure of allochthony by
analysing an aggregated dataset (n = 168) of primary and secondary data of carbon
sources from disparate geographical locations across the globe.
3. We found the δ13C fingerprints amino acids to be consistently distinct between
allochthonous (terrestrial) and autochthonous (aquatic) carbon sources. We also
found that our approach is most effective when we use only essential amino acid
tracers (i.e. isoleucine, leucine, phenylalanine, threonine and valine). Predictive
trends in δ13C fingerprints appear to be largely compatible across studies and/or
laboratories.
4. As a case study, we used this approach to quantify the contribution of terrestrial
carbon to an endemic cavefish, Cryptotora thamicola, and found that its biomass
was comprised largely of autochthonous carbon (~75%).
K E Y W O R D S
allochthonous organic carbon, amino acid‐specific isotope analysis, aquatic ecosystems,
carbon cycle, community ecology, food webs, species interactions, terrestrial carbon
Times Cited:
1
Relevent Species:
Related Records:
Kottelat, M. (1988)
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