Analysing the isotopic life history of the alpine ungulates Capra ibex and Rupicapra rupicapra rupicapra through their horns.

The horn of ungulate grazers offers a valuable isotopic record of their diet and environment. However, there have been no reports of the spatio-temporal variation of the isotopic composition of horns. We investigated patterns of carbon (delta(13)C) and nitrogen (delta(15)N) isotopic composition along and perpendicular to the horn axis in Capra ibex and Rupicapra rupicapra rupicapra to assess the effects of animal age, within-year (seasonal) and inter-annual variation, natural contamination and sampling position on horn isotope composition. Horns of male C. ibex (n = 23) and R. r. rupicapra (n = 1) were sampled longitudinally on the front (only R. r. rupicapra) and back side and on the surface and sub-surface. The sides of the R. r. rupicapra horn did not differ in delta(13)C. In both species, the horn surface had a 0.15 per thousand lower delta(13)C and a higher carbon-to-nitrogen (C/N) ratio than the sub-surface. Washing the horn with water and organic solvents removed material that caused these differences. With age, the delta(15)N of C. ibex horns increased (+0.1 per thousand year(-1)), C/N ratio increased, and (13)C discrimination relative to atmospheric CO(2) ((13)Delta) increased slightly (+0.03 per thousand year(-1)). Geostatistical analysis of one C. ibex horn revealed systematic patterns of inter-annual and seasonal (13)C changes, but (15)N changed only seasonally. The work demonstrates that isotopic signals in horns are influenced by natural contamination (delta(13)C), age effects ((13)Delta and delta(15)N), and seasonal (delta(13)C and delta(15)N) and inter-annual variation (delta(13)C). The methods presented allow us to distinguish between these effects and thus allow the use of horns as isotopic archives of the ecology of these species and their habitat.