Journal
PALAEOGEOGRAPHY PALAEOCLIMATOLOGY PALAEOECOLOGY
Volume 440, Issue -, Pages 487-495Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV
DOI: 10.1016/j.palaeo.2015.09.029
Keywords
Otoliths; fluid-preserved specimens isotopic effects; delta C-13 and delta O-18; Pacific halibut
Funding
- Makah Tribal Council
- MFM
- Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission (NWIFC) through a Tribal Government Grant
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Otoliths are important proxies for climate change and ecological studies and are typically stored in glycerin or ethanol for preservation. This study is the first attempt to assess the isotopic effects of these preservatives on carbon and oxygen isotope ratios of otolith aragonite. Experimental tests from the zgh annulus of dried Pacific halibut otoliths were compared to samples from the same otoliths collected after 30 day storage in either glycerin or ethanol. In addition, isotopic measurements of abiogenic pure aragonite samples soaked in glycerin, ethanol, acetone, dichlorom (DCM), and methanol were compared to the initial values following the same protocol. No delta O-18 effect was observed for otoliths stored in glycerin or ethanol; and no isotopic effects (both 6180 and 613C) were observed for abiogenic pure aragonite stored in the five organic solvents commonly used in geochemical laboratories. Although there was a significant but very small difference in carbon isotope ratios of halibut otoliths, the shift was of a barely measureable magnitude and the statistically significant difference only in B13C values may result from the inhomogeneous composition and structure of otoliths. Thus we concluded that there was no isotopic exchange during organic solvent storage or preservative interference in the isotope ratio measurements. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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