High fidelity: isotopic relationship between stream invertebrates and their gut contents

Benthic macroinvertebrate families were sampled along 3 rivers in New Brunswick, Canada. Stable isotopes of C and N were compared between body tissue and gut contents of individuals. δ13C and δ15N of body tissue and gut contents were strongly correlated (r = 0.94 and 0.93, respectively) over a wide...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the North American Benthological Society 2005-06, Vol.24 (2), p.290-299
Main Authors: Jardine, Timothy D, Curry, R. Allen, Heard, Kristie S, Cunjak, Richard A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
C:N
CONTENTS
Diet
diet quality
diet–tissue fractionation
evisceration
Fractionation
Freshwater
gut clearance
Herbivores
Invertebrata
Invertebrates
Isotope ratios
Isotopes
N
nitrogen
Nutritional adequacy
predator
Predators
prey
T tests
Taxa
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Summary:Benthic macroinvertebrate families were sampled along 3 rivers in New Brunswick, Canada. Stable isotopes of C and N were compared between body tissue and gut contents of individuals. δ13C and δ15N of body tissue and gut contents were strongly correlated (r = 0.94 and 0.93, respectively) over a wide range of δ values. In nonpredators, only minor fractionation of δ13C and δ15N was observed. In predators, diet–tissue fractionation of 13C was minor, but 15N fractionation that may have been related to diet quality (N content) was observed. The influence of diet quality on N-isotope fractionation was inconsistent in direction and strength among families. Our results suggest that subjecting primary consumers to gut clearance prior to processing for stable-isotope analysis is unnecessary, but the guts of predators should be removed before processing.
ISSN:0887-3593
1937-237X
DOI:10.1899/04-092.1