We conducted experiments to determine isotope changes in the deposit-feeding chironomid larvae Chironomus acerbiphilus during feeding, starvation and metamorphosis. Isotope changes in chironomid larvae occurred mainly during growth and rarely afterward. This finding indicates that chironomid isotope turnover mainly occurs in conjunction with growth and suggests that chironomid larvae only break...

It is generally believed that water transport across biological membranes is essentially a near-instantaneous process, with water molecules diffusing directly across the membrane as well as through pores such as aquaporins. As a result of these processes by which water can equilibrate across a membrane, a common assumption is that intracellular water is isotopically indistinguishable from extra...

Over the last few decades, the use of stable isotope ratios in ecological studies has increased greatly, most notably in the area of trophic ecology and food webs (Peterson and Fry 1987, Fry 2006). However, applications of stable isotopes in food web studies have been mostly qualitative to date, prompting the recent development of quantitative approaches to investigate different aspects of trop...

Ontogenetic niche shifts occur across diverse taxonomic groups, and can have critical implications for population dynamics, community structure, and ecosystem function. In this study, we provide a hypothesis-testing framework combining univariate and multivariate analyses to examine ontogenetic niche shifts using stable isotope ratios. This framework is based on three distinct ontogenetic niche...

The interpretation of stable isotope values hinges on precise, accurate estimates of kinetic isotope effects ( ), which are equal to k/k, where k and k are the reaction rate constants for the two isotopes. Kinetic isotope effects are commonly determined by monitoring the reactant concentration (C) and isotope ratio (R) relative to their initial values (C1 and R1, respectively). Values of are es...

The article gives a condensed version of the keynote lecture held at the International Mass Spectrometry Conference 2012 in Kyoto. Starting with some examples for isotope research the key requirements for metrologically valid procedures enabling traceable and comparable isotope data are discussed. Of course multi-collector mass spectrometers are required which offer sufficiently high isotope ra...

The foundations of stable isotope geochemistry were laid in 1947 by Urey’s classic paper on the thermodynamic properties of isotopic substances and by Nier’s development of the ratio mass spectrometer. Before discussing details of the naturally occurring variations in stable isotope ratios, it is useful to describe some generalities that are pertinent to the field of non-radiogenic isotope geoc...

Picarro WS-CRDS-based analyzers are the first instruments to combine simple, turnkey operation with sensitivity and precision better than or equal to the IRMS (isotope ratio mass spectrometer) systems traditionally used in stable isotope labs. This opens the door for widespread exploitation of stable isotope studies in fields such as carbon/water cycle research, GHG (greenhouse gas) monitoring,...

The use of isotope ratio infrared spectroscopy (IRIS) for the stable hydrogen and oxygen isotope analysis of water is increasing. While IRIS has many advantages over traditional isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS), it may also be prone to errors that do not impact upon IRMS analyses. Of particular concern is the potential for contaminants in the water sample to interfere with the spectroscop...

stable isotope analysis, being used in many research areas, has also been applied in archaeology during the last three decades to address questions regarding the paleoclimatology and ancient diet, mobility and migration. despite the growing number of the application of stable isotope analysis in archaeological studies, there is a very few research in this regard in archaeology of iran. this res...