Carbon Isotope Variability in the Bone Collagen of Red Kangaroos (Macropus rufus) is Age Dependent: Implications for Palaeodietary Studies |
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| Affiliation: | 1. CONICET-Instituto de Arqueología, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina;2. CONICET Departamento de Humanidades, Universidad Nacional del Sur, Argentina;3. Laboratorio de Análisis Cerámico. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina;1. Trace and Environmental DNA (TrEnD) Laboratory, School of Molecular and Life Sciences, Curtin University, Bentley, WA, 6102, Australia;2. Section for GeoGenetics, GLOBE Institute, University of Copenhagen, DK-1350, Copenhagen, Denmark;3. Division of Ecology and Evolution, Research School of Biology, ANU College of Science, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, 2600, Australia;4. Australian National Herbarium, National Research Collections Australia, CSIRO, Clunies Ross St, Canberra, ACT, 2601, Australia;5. ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, College of Science & Engineering, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, 7001, Australia;6. Department of Biology, Ecology and Evolution, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, 2100, Copenhagen, Denmark;7. The Environment Institute, Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing, School of Physical Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, 5005, Australia;8. College of Science & Engineering, Flinders University, Bedford Park, SA, 5042, Australia;9. Environmental Protection Authority, 215 Lambton Quay, Wellington, 6011, New Zealand;1. Institute of Geosciences, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany;2. Bristol Isotope Group, School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Wills Memorial Building, Queen’s Road, Bristol, BS8 1RJ, UK;3. CNRS UMR 5276, LGLTPE, Univ. Lyon, ENS de Lyon, Univ. Lyon 1, 46 Allée d’Italie, 69342, Lyon Cedex 07, France;4. UMR 7269, LAMPEA, CNRS, Aix Marseille Univ., Minist Culture, Aix-en-Provence, France;5. UMR 7194 Histoire Naturelle de l’Homme Préhistorique, CNRS, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Université Perpignan Via Domitia, 75013, Paris, France;6. UMR 7206 Ecoanthropologie, MNHN, CNRS, UP. Musée de l’Homme, 17 place du Trocadero, 75016, Paris, France;7. EA 2496 Pathologies, Imagerie et biothérapies oro-faciales, Université Paris Descartes, 1 rue Maurice Arnoux, 92120, Montrouge, France;8. Dpt of Archaeology and Natural History, College of Asia and the Pacific, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia;9. UMR 7041-ArScAn-Ethnologie Préhistorique, CNRS, Nanterre, France |
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| Abstract: | Isotopic assessment of bone collagen is often used as an environmental tracer in both contemporary and palaeoenvironmental studies. However, variability in the isotopic composition of this tissue remains poorly understood for naturally occurring and wild populations of animals. In this study the stable carbon isotope composition of both diet and bone collagen was assessed for a population of red kangaroos (Macropus rufus). Animals sampled ranged in age from approximately 10 months to 15 years. The diet of this population, estimated from faeces collected in the field, varied from predominantly C4grasses in late summer (δ13C⋍−16·5‰) to mostly C3herbage in late winter (δ13C⋍−22·5‰), with a long-term average δ13C of between −19 and −20‰. Bone collagen was enriched in13C by 3 to 4‰ in older animals relative to pouch young. Isotopic analysis of hair, used to assess more recent diet in individuals, indicated that diet selection was similar in all animals that had been weaned. We suggest that the most likely explanation for the age-dependent relationship in the δ13C of bone collagen occurs because milk (the only source of nutrition in suckling kangaroos) is not fractionated in the same manner as plant-derived carbon during its assimilation into skeletal tissue. If this is the case, then such a relationship should be most predominant in mammals that have low birth weights (relative to the adult mother) and gain significant weight from milk. Whatever the precise mechanism(s) for the observed fractionation, bone collagen of kangaroos seems to retain an isotopic memory of the carbon laid down prior to weaning, which takes several years to be diluted and replaced with carbon derived from an “adult” herbaceous diet. These results have implications for palaeoecological research where fossil skeletal tissue is used as dietary or environmental tracers particularly if the relative age of the animals sampled is unknown. |
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