Background: Numerous models show that if morphology and diet are correlated, frequencydependent competition will lead to fitness differences among phenotypically dissimilar individuals within a species. Hypothesis: Selection acts primarily on diet, and only indirectly on morphology via its correlation with diet. Field sites and organism: British Columbia, Canada; 340 individual threespine stick...

Isotope technique including radioisotopes and stable isotopes is useful and potent tool for various scientific areas. Especially, enriched stable isotopes are indispensable tools for researchers in biological systems (Stürup et al. 2008). Stable isotope ratios are usually used in examining the biogeochemical cycling of light elements such as carbon(C), oxygen (O), nitrogen (N) and sulphur (S) i...

1. Background 2. Elements, Nuclides, and Stable Isotopes 3. The Mass Spectrometer and Isotope Ratio Measurement 4. Isotope Fractionation 5. Temperature and Fractionation 6. Stable Isotopes in the Hydrologic Cycle 7. O in Minerals and Rocks 8. C and Carbon Cycling 9. N Cycling in Watersheds 10.S and the Sulfur Cycle 11. Chlorine and Bromine Isotopes 12. Light Lithophile Elements: δLi and δB Glos...

Background: Possibility to trace-label albumin with isotopes results in information concerning its synthesis, breakdown, and distribution in the intra and extra cellular spaces. The iodination of albumin is a widespread procedure used in scientific studies. Bromine not only is more reactive and less expensive than iodine, but bonds more easily with many elements. Therefore, it could be a suitab...

The present work is associated with dietary reconstruction using δ13C and δ15N analysis of humans from the site of Sidon, a Middle Bronze Age (2000BC-1550BC) settlement in Lebanon. The main objective of this research is to focus on collagen extraction of 23 individual bones, discovered in a cemetery, College site (season 2001-2002) in ancient Sidon. Collagen could only be extracted from the 8 a...

The problem of utilization of high-activity waste by effect of nuclear transmutation in growing associations of microbiological cultures was studied. For the first time we have observed utilization of several kinds of highly active isotopes in the volume of distilled water extracted from the first contour of water-water atomic reactor convert to non-radioactive nuclei. 1. The model and the foun...

The synthesis of various volatile and thermally stable derivatives of metals ions has permitted the use of conventional mass spectrometry for trace metal analysis. This paper reviews the development of the field using electron impact and chemical ionization mass spectrometry. This latter methodology produces simple mass spectra that enable complex mixtures to be analyzed. In addition the use of...

When attempting to determine the diet of wild animals, a limited number of techniques currently exist. Often, biologists look at the stomach contents or feces of an animal, if they cannot observe what it is eating directly. However, these techniques often cannot be used with reptiles because they may not eat often or may have an empty stomach when the contents of their stomach are examined. Man...