Altitudinal gradients of grassland carbon and nitrogen isotope composition are recorded in the hair of grazers

Global Ecology and Biogeography

Volumn 16, Issue 5, 2007, Pages 583-592

  Männel, Tobias Tassilo ^a   Auerswald, Karl ^a   Schnyder, Hans ^a  

^a TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF MUNICH   (Germany)

Author keywords

13C; 15 N; Alps; Altitude; Cattle; goats; Isotopeecology; Sheep; Stable isotopes; Trophic shift

Indexed keywords

ALTITUDE; BIOGEOCHEMISTRY; CARBON ISOTOPE; DIET; ENVIRONMENTAL FACTOR; GRASSLAND; HAIR; HERBIVORY; ISOTOPIC COMPOSITION; NITROGEN ISOTOPE; PLANT-HERBIVORE INTERACTION; RUMINANT; VEGETATION COVER;

ALPS; EURASIA; EUROPE;

ANIMALIA; BOS; BOS TAURUS; BOVIDAE; CAPRA HIRCUS; OVIS ARIES;

EID: 34547991234     PISSN: 1466822X     EISSN: 14668238     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1466-8238.2007.00322.x     Document Type: Article

References (51)

1. Amundson, R., Austin, A.T., Schuur, E.A.G., Yoo, K., Matzek, V., Kendall, C., Uebersax, A., Brenner, D.L. & Baisden, W.T. (2003) Global patterns of the isotopic composition of soil and plant nitrogen. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 17, 1031.
2. Austin, A.T. & Vitousek, P.M. (1998) Nutrient dynamics on a precipitation gradient in Hawai'i. Oecologia, 113, 519-529.
3. 2 of horses fed an isotopically varied diet. Oecologia, 139, 11-22.
4. 14N in mammals. Oecologia, 147, 212-222.
5. Cerling, T.E. & Harris, J.M. (1999) Carbon isotope fractionation between diet and bioapatite in ungulate mammals and implications for ecological and paleoecological studies. Oecologia, 120, 347-363.
6. Cerling, T.E., Wittemyer, G., Rasmussen, H.B., Vollrath, F., Cerling, C., Robinson, T.J. & Douglas-Hamilton, I. (2006) Stable isotopes in elephant hair document migration patterns and diet changes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 103, 371-373.
7. Cherel, Y., Hobson, K.A., Bailleul, F. & Groscolas, R. (2005) Nutrition, physiology, and stable isotopes: New information from fasting and molting penguins. Ecology, 86, 2881-2888.
8. 13C along an altitudinal gradient. Functional Ecology, 13, 811-818.
9. Craine, J.M. & Lee, W.G. (2003) Covariation in leaf and root traits for native and non-native grasses along an altitudinal gradient in New Zealand. Oecologia, 134, 471-478.
10. De Niro, M.J. & Epstein, S. (1978) Influence of diet on distribution of carbon isotopes in animals. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 42, 495-506.
11. De Niro, M.J. & Epstein, S. (1981) Influence of diet on the distribution of nitrogen isotopes in animals. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 45, 341-351.
12. De Vries, M.F.W. & Daleboudt, C. (1994) Foraging strategy of cattle in patchy grassland. Oecologia, 100, 98-106.
13. Drewnik, M. (2006) The effect of environmental conditions on the decomposition rate of cellulose in mountain soils. Geoderma, 132, 116-130.
14. Ellenberg, H. (1978) Vegetation Mitteleuropas mit den Alpen. Ulmer, Stuttgart.
15. Farquhar, G.D., Ehleringer, J.R. & Hubick, K.T. (1989) Carbon isotope discrimination and photosynthesis. Annual Review of Plant Physiology and Plant Molecular Biology, 40, 503-537.
16. Fox, J. (1997) Applied regression analysis, linear models, and related methods. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA.
17. 13C along altitudinal gradients in Scotland. Functional Ecology, 3, 117-122.
18. 13N) of ecosystem samples reflects measures of water availability. Australian Journal of Plant Physiology, 26, 185-199.
19. Hobson, K.A. (1999) Tracing origins and migration of wildlife using stable isotopes: A review. Oecologia, 120, 314-326.
20. 15N) isotopes to infer trophic relationships among black and grizzly bears in the upper Columbia River basin, British Columbia. Canadian Journal of Zoology, 78, 1332-1339.
21. 13N natural abundance in soil-plant systems. New Phytologist, 137, 179-203.
22. Hultine, K.R. & Marshall, J.D. (2000) Altitude trends in conifer leaf morphology and stable carbon isotope composition. Oecologia, 123, 32-40.
23. 14N ratios of mammoth hairs: Palaeodiet and palaeoclimatic implications. Chemical Geology, 231, 16-25.
24. 2 fixation of various legume species along an altitudinal gradient in the Swiss Alps. Soil Biology & Biochemistry, 32, 1043-1052.
25. 2 fixation and other nitrogen sources to grassland ecosystems along an altitudinal gradient in the Alps. Plant and Soil, 225, 201-211.
26. 4 species in sequence. Search, 12, 85-87.
27. 2 transfer conductance, leaf structure and carbon isotope composition of Polygonum cuspidatum leaves from low and high altitudes. Plant Cell and Environment, 24, 529-538.
28. Körner, C., Farquhar, G.D. & Roksandic, Z. (1988) A global survey of carbon isotope discrimination in plants from high altitude. Oecologia, 74, 623-632.
29. Körner, C., Farquhar, G.D. & Wong, S.C. (1991) Carbon isotope discrimination by plants follows latitudinal and altitudinal trends. Oecologia, 88, 30-40.
30. Luo, T.X., Pan, Y.D., Ouyang, H., Shi, P.L., Luo, J., Yu, Z.L. & Lu, Q. (2004) Leaf area index and net primary productivity along subtropical to alpine gradients in the Tibetan Plateau. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 13, 345-358.
31. 4 grasses interpreted from stable isotopes of New World Pleistocene horse (Equus) teeth. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 8, 137-149.
32. 15N in the organic matter of soils along an altitudinal gradient. Catena, 7, 293-300.
33. Minson, D.J., Ludlow, M.M. & Troughton, J.H. (1975) Differences in natural carbon isotope ratios of milk and hair from cattle grazing tropical and temperate pastures. Nature, 256, 602.
34. 15C at different altitudes. Journal of Experimental Botany, 41, 1303-1308.
35. 15N and water availability. Functional Ecology, 20, 1062-1069.
36. Nakamura, K., Schoeller, D.A., Winkler, F.J. & Schmidt, H.L. (1982) Geographical variations in the carbon isotope composition of the diet and hair in contemporary man. Biomedical Mass Spectrometry, 9, 390-394.
37. Raich, J.W., Russell, A.E. & Vitousek, P.M. (1997) Primary productivity and ecosystem development along an elevational gradient on Mauna Loa, Hawai'i. Ecology, 78, 707-721.
38. 15C of temperate humid grassland. Global Change Biology, 12, 1315-1329.
39. Schuur, E.A.G. & Matson, P.A. (2001) Net primary productivity and nutrient cycling across a mesic to wet precipitation gradient in Hawaiian montane forest. Oecologia, 128, 431-442.
40. Schwertl, M., Auerswald, K. & Schnyder, H. (2003) Reconstruction of the isotopic history of animal diets by hair segmental analysis. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry, 17, 1312-1318.
41. Schwertl, M., Auerswald, K., Schäufele, R. & Schnyder, H. (2005) Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope composition of cattle hair: ecological fingerprints of production systems? Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 109, 153-165.
42. Sponheimer, M., Robinson, T., Ayliffe, L.K., Passey, B.H., Roeder, B., Shipley, L., Lopez, E., Cerling, T.E., Dearing, M.D. & Ehleringer, J.R. (2003a) An experimental study of carbon-isotope fractionation between diet, hair, and feces of mammalian herbivores. Canadian Journal of Zoology-Revue Canadienne de Zoologie, 81, 871-876.
43. 15Nvalues from a controlled feeding study. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 12, 80-87.
44. 15N abundances in the tissues and digesta of domestic animals. Radioisotopes, 36, 74-77.
45. 13 C analysis of diet. Oecologia, 57, 32-37.
46. 2O. Biogeochemistry, 63, 249-267.
47. x emissions. Biogeochemistry, 63, 229-247.
48. Tsialtas, J.T., Handley, L.L., Kassioumi, M.T., Veresoglou, D.S. & Gagianas, A.A. (2001) Interspecific variation in potential water-use efficiency and its relation to plant species abundance in a water-limited grassland. Functional Ecology, 15, 605-614.
49. 13C in Hawaiian Metrosideros polymorpha - a case of internal resistance. Oecologia, 84, 362-370.
50. West, J.B., Bowen, G.J., Cerling, T.E. & Ehleringer, J.R. (2006) Stable isotopes as one of natures' ecological recorders. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 21, 408-414.
51. Zhang, J.W., Marshall, J.D. & Jaquish, B.C. (1993) Genetic differentiation in carbon isotope discrimination and gas-exchange in Pseudotsuga menziesii - a common-garden experiment. Oecologia, 93, 80-87.