Carbon- and nitrogen-isotope tissue-diet discrimination and turnover rates in deer mice, Peromyscus maniculatus

• Published in: Canadian journal of zoology Vol. 86; no. 7; pp. 685 - 691
• Main Authors: Miller, J. F, Millar, J. S, Longstaffe, F. J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ottawa National Research Council of Canada 01.07.2008; NRC Research Press; Canadian Science Publishing NRC Research Press
• Subjects: Animal and plant ecology; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Animals; Autoecology; Biological and medical sciences; Blood; Carbon; Composition; Diet; Food and nutrition; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Isotopes; Mammalia; Nitrogen; Peromyscus; Peromyscus maniculatus; Physiological aspects; Rodents; Small mammals; Stable isotopes; Tissues; Vertebrata; Canada; Laboratory study; Tissue; Vertebrata; Mammalia; Discrimination; Diet; Rodentia; Turnover; Peromyscus maniculatus; Nitrogen; Carbon; Isotopes
• ISSN: 0008-4301; 1480-3283; 1480-3283; 0008-4301
• DOI: 10.1139/Z08-042

The dietary habits of most small mammals are not well documented, and stable isotope measurements can provide information on when and how diets change. Here we document the discrimination and turnover times for carbon and nitrogen isotopes in blood, liver, muscle, hair, and milk from deer mice ( Peromyscus maniculatus (Wagner, 1845)) fed a controlled diet. Nonbreeding adults and pregnant females were livetrapped, maintained on a commercial laboratory chow, and had tissues sampled on a regular schedule. After adjusting to the laboratory diet, most tissues of nonbreeding adults were slightly depleted of 13 C and enriched in 15 N relative to diet ( Δ 13 C tissue-diet range = 0.3‰ to -1.1 ‰;; Δ 15 N tissue-diet range = 1.9‰ to 3.4‰). Liver (half-lives of 2.8 and 3.6 days for C and N, respectively) turned over more rapidly than blood (22.4 and 19.8 days for C and N, respectively) and muscle (18.7 and 24.8 days for C and N, respectively). The isotopic compositions of nonbreeding and breeding adults indicated tissue turnover at approximately the same rate, but juvenile tissues reflected the laboratory diet much more quickly than adult tissues.