Journal
ISOTOPES IN ENVIRONMENTAL AND HEALTH STUDIES
Volume 43, Issue 2, Pages 143-154Publisher
TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
DOI: 10.1080/10256010701360520
Keywords
beetles; C-3-plants; C-4-plants; carbon-13; diet; nitrogen-15; trophic shift
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The back-calculation of the diet is a common application of stable isotopes in animal ecology. The method is based on a predictable relation between the isotopic signature of the diet and the animal's tissues. Frequently, the assumption of a constant difference in isotopic signatures (trophic shift) is made. Carbon isotopic ratios of C-3 and C-4 plants differ by approximately 10%, making wheat (C-3-plant) and corn (C-4-plant) ideal materials for isotopic studies in nutritional ecology and especially for testing the back-calculation method. In this experiment, red flour beetles, Tribolium castaneum, were reared on wheat flour, corn flour and three different mixtures thereof, either in pure flour or with the addition of yeast inoculum or yeast grains. Development of T. castaneum on these experimental diets was monitored, and isotopic signatures of carbon and nitrogen in emerging adults were analysed. The values of trophic shift of C and N isotopes for wheat and corn flour were different, and the values for the mixtures did not correspond to those expected from a linear mixing model. The latter can be taken as an indication that the tiny larvae of T. castaneum may be capable of differentiating between particles of wheat and corn flour, making this animal model unsuitable for testing the back-calculation method.
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