Oxygen and carbon isoscapes for the Baltic Sea: Testing their applicability in fish migration studies
Torniainen, J., Lensu, A., Vuorinen, P. J., Sonninen, E., Keinänen, M., Jones, R., . . . , & Kiljunen, M. (2017). Oxygen and carbon isoscapes for the Baltic Sea: Testing their applicability in fish migration studies. Ecology and Evolution, 7 (7), 2255-2267. doi:10.1002/ece3.2841
Published in
Ecology and EvolutionAuthors
Date
2017Copyright
© 2017 The Authors. This is an open access article published by Wiley and distributed under the terms of a Creative Commons License.
Conventional tags applied to individuals have been used to investigate animal movement,
but these methods require tagged individuals be recaptured. Maps of regional
isotopic variability known as “isoscapes” offer potential for various applications in migration
research without tagging wherein isotope values of tissues are compared to
environmental isotope values. In this study, we present the spatial variability in oxygen
(δ18OH2O) and dissolved inorganic carbon (δ13CDIC) isotope values of Baltic Sea water.
We also provide an example of how these isoscapes can reveal locations of individual
animal via spatial probability surface maps, using the high-resolution salmon otolith
isotope data from salmon during their sea-feeding phase in the Baltic Sea. A clear latitudinal
and vertical gradient was found for both δ18OH2O and δ13CDIC values. The difference
between summer and winter in the Baltic Sea δ18OH2O values was only slight,
whereas δ13CDIC values exhibited substantial seasonal variability related to algal productivity.
Salmon otolith δ18Ooto and δ13Coto values showed clear differences between
feeding areas and seasons. Our example demonstrates that dual isotope approach offers
great potential for estimating probable fish habitats once issues in model parameterization
have been resolved.
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