These tools will no longer be maintained as of December 31, 2024. Archived website can be found here. PubMed4Hh GitHub repository can be found here. Contact NLM Customer Service if you have questions.


Pubmed for Handhelds

PUBMED FOR HANDHELDS

Search MEDLINE/PubMed

  • Title: Relationships between stable isotopes and metal contaminants in feathers are spurious and biologically uninformative.
    Author: Bond AL.
    Journal: Environ Pollut; 2010 May; 158(5):1182-4. PubMed ID: 20116152.
    Abstract:
    Stable isotopes of carbon (delta(13)C) and nitrogen (delta(15)N) are used frequently in ecotoxicological investigations of birds to relate contaminant levels to trophic position (delta(15)N) or foraging location (delta(13)C) and many researchers using avian feathers in such investigations use delta(13)C or delta(15)N as a predictor of contaminant concentrations. Contaminants, especially mercury, however, are integrated into feathers over different time periods than are stable isotopes, resulting in spurious relationships that have no biological meaning. I show the fundamental principles behind the conclusion that relating delta(13)C or delta(15)N to contaminant concentrations in feathers is not appropriate in light of the number of recent studies that have employed this approach, and make recommendations for those wishing to investigate the relationship between contaminants and stable isotope ratios.
    [Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]