Journal
CANADIAN JOURNAL OF ZOOLOGY-REVUE CANADIENNE DE ZOOLOGIE
Volume 85, Issue 1, Pages 40-48Publisher
CANADIAN SCIENCE PUBLISHING, NRC RESEARCH PRESS
DOI: 10.1139/Z06-187
Keywords
isotope
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We tested whether extracting lipids reduced confounding variation in delta(13)C and delta(15)N values by analyzing paired lipid-extracted (LE) and non-lipid-extracted (NLE) samples of bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus (L., 1766)) whole eggs, muscle tissue from nine seabird and one terrestrial bird species, muscle tissue from four marine fish species, and blue mussels (Mytilus edulis L., 1758) collected from the Aleutian archipelago, Alaska. Lipid extraction significantly increased delta(13)C by an average of 2.0 parts per thousand in whole eggs, 0.8 parts per thousand in avian muscle, 0.2 parts per thousand in fish muscle, and 0.6 parts per thousand in blue mussels. Lower delta(13)C values in NLE samples covaried positively with lipid content across all sample types. Lower delta(13)C values in NLE samples were not correlated with lipid content within bald eagle eggs and blue mussels, but covaried positively with percent lipid in avian and fish muscles. Neither lipid extraction nor percent lipid significantly changed delta(15)N values for any sample type. Lower delta(13)C values in most NLE avian and fish muscle tissues should not confound interpretation of pelagic versus nearshore sources of primary production, but lipid extraction may be necessary when highly precise estimates of delta(13)C are needed. Lipid extraction may not be necessary when only delta(15)N is of interest.
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