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Tooth enamel nitrogen isotope composition records trophic position: a tool for reconstructing food webs
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Tooth enamel nitrogen isotope composition records trophic position: a tool for reconstructing food webs
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Journal Article
Tooth enamel nitrogen isotope composition records trophic position: a tool for reconstructing food webs
2023
Overview
Nitrogen isotopes are widely used to study the trophic position of animals in modern food webs; however, their application in the fossil record is severely limited by degradation of organic material during fossilization. In this study, we show that the nitrogen isotope composition of organic matter preserved in mammalian tooth enamel (δ
15
N
enamel
) records diet and trophic position. The δ
15
N
enamel
of modern African mammals shows a 3.7‰ increase between herbivores and carnivores as expected from trophic enrichment, and there is a strong positive correlation between δ
15
N
enamel
and δ
15
N
bone-collagen
values from the same individuals. Additionally, δ
15
N
enamel
values of Late Pleistocene fossil teeth preserve diet and trophic level information, despite complete diagenetic loss of collagen in the same specimens. We demonstrate that δ
15
N
enamel
represents a powerful geochemical proxy for diet that is applicable to fossils and can help delineate major dietary transitions in ancient vertebrate lineages.
Enamel-bound nitrogen isotopes in modern and fossil mammal teeth preserve dietary and trophic level information. This novel geochemical archive can be used to reconstruct trophic niche in ancient ecosystems.
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group UK,Nature Publishing Group,Nature Portfolio
Subject
/ Animals
/ Biology
/ Biomedical and Life Sciences
/ Collagen
/ Diet
/ Fossils
/ Isotopes
/ Mammals
/ Nitrogen
