1. d18O and dD in Animals: Applications
Water resource use in birds
Dinosaur thermoregulation
Marine mammal habitats

2. McKechnie et al. 2004, Oecologia, 140: 191-200
Potential: dD in tissues are a tracer for water resource use in animals
Unknown: Level of dependence of D on environmental factors
Question: Can a mass balance model explain dD in body water?
Test: Manipulate water flux and switch water source
fract factor

3. The data

4. Labeled source water switching experiment (sweatin’ out the deutirium)
after
before

5. Relationship between and E both pre- and post-switch
Expt
Relationship between
and E both
pre- and post-switch
Model
Post-switch
Var=12.9‰
No significant relationship
pre-switch…
Pre-switch
Var=12.0‰

6. Estimating proportions of 2 water sources w/different dD:
accuracy of the mixing model
95%
Assuming a maximum absolute error in dDD = 13‰

7. Dinosaur thermoregulation

8. Dinosaur Endothermy Take II

9. Discriminating aquatic mammals habitat and foraging
ecology with stable isotopes in tooth enamel
(Clementz and Koch, 2001)
Variability in primary productivity

10. Animals analyzed in this study

11. Carbon in animals…

12. Oxygen in animals…

13. The dual isotope approach
Teasing apart the
picture… means
and variability
coyote
terr.
&
estuary
marine
&
fresh