—Stable-isotope analysis of feathers is an increasingly important source of information on diet and movement of birds. Feathers are typically cleaned with a solvent before analysis, but the effects of this cleaning on the resulting data have not been examined critically. We conducted an experiment to determine whether a cleaning regime affected hydrogen ( D), carbon ( C), and nitrogen ( N) ...

The forensic application of stable isotope analysis to cocaine and heroin for geolocation of exhibits must take into account the possible enrichment and/or depletion of 13C and 15N during the illicit manufacturing process. Continuous-flow elemental analysis-isotope ratio mass spectrometry was utilized to measure changes in the stable isotope ratios of carbon and nitrogen for both cocaine (N = 9...

Stable isotope fractionation was studied during the degradation of m-xylene, o-xylene, m-cresol, and p-cresol with two pure cultures of sulfate-reducing bacteria. Degradation of all four compounds is initiated by a fumarate addition reaction by a glycyl radical enzyme, analogous to the well-studied benzylsuccinate synthase reaction in toluene degradation. The extent of stable carbon isotope fra...

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,...

Isotope ratios of cellulose and cellulose nitrate from aquatic Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) and non-CAM plants were determined. Cellulose oxygen istope ratios for all plants that grew together were virtually identical, whereas large differences were observed for hydrogen isotope ratios of cellulose nitrate between CAM and non-CAM plants. Carbon isotope ratios of cellulose nitrate did not ...

The Karoo basin of South Africa exposes a succession of Upper Permian to Lower Triassic terrestrial strata containing abundant terrestrial vertebrate fossils. Paleomagnetic/magnetostratigraphic and carbon-isotope data allow sections to be correlated across the basin. With this stratigraphy, the vertebrate fossil data show a gradual extinction in the Upper Permian punctuated by an enhanced extin...

Stable isotope analysis of human remains has been used to address long-standing debates regarding the speed and degree to which the introduction of farming transformed diet. In Europe, this debate has centered on northern and Atlantic regions with much less attention devoted to the arrival of farming across the Mediterranean. This study presents carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analyses of co...

We applied natural abundance stable isotope δ13C and radiocarbon ∆14C analyses to investigate trophic linkages between zooplankton and their potential food sources (phytoplankton, submersed plants, and allochthonous organic carbon) in Lake Nam Co, one of the largest oligosaline and oligotrophic lakes in the Tibetan Plateau, in south-west China. The δ13C and ∆14C levels of the calanoid copepod A...

The Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum (PETM) may represent the best paleo-analog for rapid and massive carbon release to the ocean and atmosphere. Thus, constraining the carbon release rate at its onset is critical. Wright and Schaller (1) use records from apparently rhythmically layered shelf sediments to argue that the layering is annual and that the onset of the carbon isotope excursion (CIE,...

Citation: Oczkowski A, Kreakie B, McKinney RA and Prezioso J (2016) Patterns in Stable Isotope Values of Nitrogen and Carbon in Particulate Matter from the Northwest Atlantic Continental Shelf, from the Gulf of Maine to Cape Hatteras. Front. Mar. Sci. 3:252. doi: 10.3389/fmars.2016.00252 Patterns in Stable Isotope Values of Nitrogen and Carbon in Particulate Matter from the Northwest Atlantic C...