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)
Two species of cavefishes from northern Thailand in the genera Nemachilus and Homaloptera (Osteichthyes, Homalopteridae)
Kottelat, M. (1998)Homaloptera yuwonoi, a new species of hillstream loach from Borneo, with a new generic name for H. thamicola (Teleostei: Balitoridae)
Borowsky, R.L. and Vidthayanon, C. (2001)Nucleotide diversity in populations of balitorid cave fishes from Thailand
Deharveng, L. and Bedos, A. (2001)Thailande
Trajano, E., Mugue, N., Krejca, J., Vidthayanon, C., Smart, D. and Borowsky, R. (2002)Habitat, distribution, ecology and behaviour of cave balitorids from Thailand (Teleostei: Cypriniformes)
Prokofiev, A.M. (2010)Morphological classification of loaches (Nemacheilinae)
Kottelat, M. (2012)Conspectus cobitidum: An inventory of the loaches of the world (Teleostei: Cypriniformes: Cobitoidei)
Brancelj, A., Boonyanusith, C., Watiroyram, S. and Sanoamuang, L. (2013)The groundwater-dwelling fauna of Southeast Asia
Lujan, N.K. and Conway, K.W. (2015)Life in the fast lane: A review of rheophily in freshwater fishes
Flammang, B.E., Suvarnaraksha, A., Markiewicz, J. and Soares, D. (2016)Tetrapod-like pelvic girdle in a walking cavefish
Sherwin, F. (2016)Wall-climbing cave fish: Evolutionary intermediate?
Zimmer, C. (2016)Researchers find fish that walks the way land Vertebrates do
Anonymous (2018)New walking cavefish study explores origins of quadrapedal walking
Anonymous (2018)First steps. Scientists launch evolutionary study to explore the origins of fish that walk
Anonymous (2018)New walking cavefish study explores origins of quadrapedal walking
Ellis, M. (2018)The recorded fauna of the limestone caves of Thailand to April 2018
Liew, J.H., Chua, K.W.J., Arsenault, E.R, Thorp, J.H., Suvarnaraksha, A., Amirrudin, A. and Yeo, D.C.J. (2019)Quantifying terrestrial carbon in freshwater food webs using amino acid isotope analysis: Case study with an endemic cavefish
Willis, J., Burt de Perera, T., Newport, C., Poncelet, G., Sturr, C.J. and Thomas, A. (2019)The structure and function of the sucker systems of hill stream loaches
Crawford, C.H., Randall, Z.S., Hart, P.B., Page, L.M., Chakrabarty, P., Suvarnaraksha, A. and Flammang, B.E. (2020)Skeletal and muscular pelvic morphology of hillstream loaches (Cypriniformes: Balitoridae)
Ellis, M. (2020)The caves of northern Thailand
Zhongming, Z., Linong, L., Xiaona, Y., Wangqiang, Z. and Wei, L. (2020)Study of Asia's hillstream loaches reveals keys to fish family's land-walking abilities
Crawford, C.H. (2021)These fish were made for walking: morphology and walking kinematics in balitorid loaches
Crawford, C.H., Webber-Schultz, A., Hart, P.B., Randall, Z.S., Cerrato-Morales, C., Kellogg, A.B., Amplo, H.E., Suvarnaraksha, A., Page, L.M., Chakrabarty, P. and Flammang, B.E. (2022)They like to move it (move it): walking kinematics of balitorid loaches of Thailand
Flammang, B.E. (2022)Bioinspired design in research: Evolution as beta-testing