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Kangaroo metabolism does not cause the relationship between bone collagen δ15N and water availability

journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-16, 19:41 authored by Murphy, BP, David BowmanDavid Bowman
1. A negative relationship between water availability and the abundance of 15N relative to 14N (expressed as δ15N) in the bone collagen of herbivores has been widely reported. However, the relative importance of dietary δ15N and animal metabolism in producing this effect remains unclear. 2. To evaluate the relative importance of these two factors, we examined variation in δ15N of both grass foliage and kangaroo (Macropus spp.) bone collagen. We assessed whether the offset between grass and bone collagen δ15N was constant with respect to water availability. 3. An index of water availability (annual actual evapotranspiration/annual potential evapotranspiration) explained a considerable proportion of the variation in both grass δ15N (R2 = 0.40) and bone collagen δ15N (R2 = 0.57), and the slopes of these negative relationships were similar, with a near-constant δ15N offset between grass foliage and bone collagen. 4. This finding suggests that dietary δ15N is the main cause of the negative relationship between kangaroo bone collagen δ15N and water availability, with metabolic factors having little discernible effect. © 2006 The Authors.

History

Publication title

Functional Ecology

Volume

20

Issue

6

Pagination

1062-1069

ISSN

0269-8463

Department/School

School of Natural Sciences

Publisher

Blackwell Publishing

Place of publication

Victoria

Repository Status

  • Restricted

Socio-economic Objectives

Social impacts of climate change and variability

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