The effect of ethanol fixation on stable isotope signatures in benthic organisms

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Author(s)

Abstract

Stable isotope analyses are often used for the estimation of food web structures based on empirical fractionation (i.e., enrichment of carbon isotope signatures at 0–1‰ with one trophic level, and that of nitrogen at 3–4‰). We examined the effect of 80% ethanol fixation on both carbon and nitrogen stable isotope signatures of six species of macrobenthos samples. The effect of fixation was inconsistent (i.e. both enrichment and depletion occurred). The shift of nitrogen isotope signatures due to fixation ranged from −0.3 to +0.8‰, and the carbon signatures of fixed samples showed enrichment by −0.3 to +1.3‰ depending on the species. These changes would clearly affect estimation of trophic levels and energy flow in food webs. Ethanol fixation may not be a smart choice because of the inconsistency of the effect on isotope signatures. However, if the effect was corrected for each species, ethanol-fixed samples can be practically useful for food web analyses using stable isotopes.

Journal

  • Plankton and Benthos Research

    Plankton and Benthos Research 5(2), 79-82, 2010-05-01

    The Plankton Society of Japan, The Japanese Association of Benthology

References:  15

Codes

  • NII Article ID (NAID)
    10026447761
  • NII NACSIS-CAT ID (NCID)
    AA12130745
  • Text Lang
    ENG
  • Article Type
    NOT
  • ISSN
    18808247
  • NDL Article ID
    10694829
  • NDL Source Classification
    ZR1(科学技術--生物学)
  • NDL Call No.
    Z54-J424
  • DOI
    10.3800/pbr.5.79
  • Data Source
    CJP  NDL  J-STAGE 
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