Search results for "stable isotope"

Spectroscopy of short-lived radioactive molecules

2020

Molecular spectroscopy offers opportunities for the exploration of the fundamental laws of nature and the search for new particle physics beyond the standard model1–4. Radioactive molecules—in which one or more of the atoms possesses a radioactive nucleus—can contain heavy and deformed nuclei, offering high sensitivity for investigating parity- and time-reversal-violation effects5,6. Radium monofluoride, RaF, is of particular interest because it is predicted to have an electronic structure appropriate for laser cooling6, thus paving the way for its use in high-precision spectroscopic studies. Furthermore, the effects of symmetry-violating nuclear moments are strongly enhanced5,7–9 in molecu…

Fish introductions and light modulate food web fluxes in tropical streams : a whole-ecosystem experimental approach

2016

Decades of ecological study have demonstrated the importance of top-down and bottom-up controls on food webs, yet few studies within this context have quantified the magnitude of energy and material fluxes at the whole-ecosystem scale. We examined top-down and bottom-up effects on food web fluxes using a field experiment that manipulated the presence of a consumer, the Trinidadian guppy Poecilia reticulata, and the production of basal resources by thinning the riparian forest canopy to increase incident light. To gauge the effects of these reach-scale manipulations on food web fluxes, we used a nitrogen (15N) stable isotope tracer to compare basal resource treatments (thinned canopy vs. con…

Spatial variability in stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios in a Mediterranean coastal lagoon (Mauguio, France).

2003

Gas geochemistry of shallow submarine vents in the Aegean sea (Greece)

2017

The Aegean area, which is geodynamically very active, is characterised by intense seismic activity, presence of active volcanic systems and anomalous geothermal gradients. Like other regions of intense geodynamic activity it is also characterized by extensive geogenic degassing. Gas manifestations are not only widespread on land but are also very frequent underwater. Many of these, as for example those of Milos and Santorini, are known since long time and have been previously studied although the targets were generally the hot waters or the sediments affected by the emissions (Smith and Cronan 1978, Dando et al. 1995, Price et al. 2013, Megalovassilis 2014).The present study aims at produci…

Trophic structure of zooplankton / suprabenthos communities from the Galician and Cantabrian Coasts (NW Spain) by stable carbon and nitrogen isotope …

2007

Hydrogen isotopes (δ2H) of polyunsaturated fatty acids track bioconversion by zooplankton

2022

1. Organisms at the base of aquatic food webs synthesize essential nutrients, such as omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFA), which are transferred to consumers at higher trophic levels. Many consumers, requiring n-3 long-chain (LC) PUFA, such as eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), have limited ability to biosynthesize them from the essential dietary precursor α-linolenic acid (ALA) and thus rely on dietary provision of LC-PUFA. 2. We investigated LC-PUFA metabolism in freshwater zooplankton using stable hydrogen isotopes (δ2H) of fatty acids as tracers. We conducted feeding experiments with the freshwater keystone grazer Daphnia to quantify changes in the δ2…

Benthic foodweb structure in a large shallow lake studied by stable isotope analysis

2014

The benthic foodweb structure of Lake Võrtsjärv, a large (270 km2), shallow, and turbid Estonian lake, was evaluated based on C and N stable-isotope signatures (δ13C, δ15N). Variation in δ13C between sampling sites was not related to site proximity to the littoral zone or the more vegetated southern part of the lake, but rather appeared to be influenced by in-situ site peculiarities. δ13C was stable temporally and between functional feeding groups, a result implying that the whole benthic food web of the lake relies largely on the same C source admixture, essentially particulate organic matter (POM). Thus, the foodweb composition of Lake Võrtsjärv is remarkably homogeneous given the lake’s …

Dependence of Arctic char (Salvelinus alpinus L.) on littoral and pelagic energy sources in a subarctic lake, Saanajärvi

2007

The spatial and temporal variation of nitrogen fixation in aquatic environments

2007

Inferring Phytoplankton, Terrestrial Plant and Bacteria Bulk δ¹³C Values from Compound Specific Analyses of Lipids and Fatty Acids.

2015

Stable isotope mixing models in aquatic ecology require δ13C values for food web end members such as phytoplankton and bacteria, however it is rarely possible to measure these directly. Hence there is a critical need for improved methods for estimating the δ13C ratios of phytoplankton, bacteria and terrestrial detritus from within mixed seston. We determined the δ13C values of lipids, phospholipids and biomarker fatty acids and used these to calculate isotopic differences compared to the whole-cell δ13C values for eight phytoplankton classes, five bacterial taxa, and three types of terrestrial organic matter (two trees and one grass). The lipid content was higher amongst the phytoplankton (…