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Dethier MN, Sosik E, Galloway AWE, Duggins DO, Simenstad CA
Addressing assumptions: variation in stable isotopes and fatty acids of marine macrophytes can confound conclusions of food web studies
Research on food webs increasingly relies on sampling biomarkers (stable isotopes and fatty acids) in consumers and their food, and analyses are based on the assumption that biomarker signatures are stable in space and time. Dethier and co-workers found that macroalgal and seagrass biomarkers are relatively consistent at the phylum level, but that variation across dates and sites is fairly high at the species level. The importance of this ‘noise’ in biomarker values was tested with Bayesian mixing models. The accuracy of the predicted vs. the simulated diet depended strongly on the initial assumptions and improved with increasing number of biomarker variables. Exploring natural variability in diet should provide better insights into ecosystem dynamics.
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