Journal
RAPID COMMUNICATIONS IN MASS SPECTROMETRY
Volume 25, Issue 24, Pages 3741-3748Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1002/rcm.5284
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Stable isotope analysis of hair has found applications in many fields of science because it provides a temporally resolved, fairly stable isotopic archive of mammalian individuals. We investigated whether this hair archive is modified by natural weathering while attached to a living animal. We analyzed the tail switch hairs of one suckler cow, sampled seven times over a period of four annual summer pasture-winter stall feeding cycles. We compared relative isotope ratios (delta H-2, delta C-13, delta N-15, delta O-18 and delta S-34) of sections of hair that grew simultaneously but were exposed to natural weathering conditions over different periods of time. Natural wear caused a loss of mass of approx. 0.13% day(-1), with no apparent effect of environmental conditions. Changes in delta H-2, delta C-13, delta N-15 and delta O-18 were below the detection limit, indicating that hair is a reliable archive for the isotopes of these elements. In contrast, delta S-34 values increased during the grazing period by about 1 parts per thousand, with exposure to UV radiation appearing to have a major influence on this result. The delta S-34 values decreased during the subsequent stall period, probably due to abrasion. Seasonal variation in delta S-34 may indicate alternating environments that differ in their weathering conditions. Copyright (C) 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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