Trophic enrichment factors for blood serum in the European badger (Meles meles)
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2012Access:
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Kelly, D. J., Robertson, A., Murphy, D., Fitzsimons, T., Costello, E., Gormley, E., Corner, L. A. L., Marples, N. M., Trophic enrichment factors for blood serum in the European badger (Meles meles), PLoS ONE, 7, 12, 2012, e53071Download Item:
TEFs of badger blood serum.pdf (Published (publisher's copy) - Peer Reviewed) 192.2Kb
Abstract:
Ecologists undertaking stable isotopic analyses of animal diets require trophic enrichment factors (TEFs) for the specific
animal tissues that they are studying. Such basic data are available for a small number of species, so values from trophically
or phylogenetically similar species are often substituted for missing values. By feeding a controlled diet to captive European
badgers (Meles meles) we determined TEFs for carbon and nitrogen in blood serum. TEFs for nitrogen and carbon in blood
serum were +3.060.4% and +0.460.1% respectively. The TEFs for serum in badgers are notably different from those
published for the red fox (Vulpes vulpes). There is currently no data for TEFs in the serum of other mustelid species. Our data
show that species sharing similar niches (red fox) do not provide adequate proxy values for TEFs of badgers. Our findings
emphasise the importance of having species-specific data when undertaking trophic studies using stable isotope analysis.
Sponsor
Grant Number
European Union (EU)
212414
Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (DAFF)
Author's Homepage:
http://people.tcd.ie/djkellyhttp://people.tcd.ie/nmarples
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PUBLISHED
Author: KELLY, DAVID; MARPLES, NICOLA
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PLoS ONE7
12
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Full text availableKeywords:
stable isotopes, trophic enrichment, European badger, Meles melesSubject (TCD):
Smart & Sustainable PlanetDOI:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0053071Licences: