Premium
Hydrogen and Oxygen Isotope Ratios in Body Water and Hair: Modeling Isotope Dynamics in Nonhuman Primates
Author(s) -
O'Grady Shan P.,
Valenzuela Luciano O.,
Remien Christopher H.,
Enright Lindsey E.,
Jorgensen Matthew J.,
Kaplan Jay R.,
Wagner Janice D.,
Cerling Thure E.,
Ehleringer James R.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
american journal of primatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.988
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1098-2345
pISSN - 0275-2565
DOI - 10.1002/ajp.22019
Subject(s) - isotope , isotopes of oxygen , dynamics (music) , oxygen , hydrogen , hydrogen isotope , chemistry , radiochemistry , environmental chemistry , physics , nuclear chemistry , nuclear physics , organic chemistry , acoustics
The stable isotopic composition of drinking water, diet, and atmospheric oxygen influence the isotopic composition of body water ( 2 H / 1 H , 18 O / 16 O expressed as δ 2 H and δ 18 O ). In turn, body water influences the isotopic composition of organic matter in tissues, such as hair and teeth, which are often used to reconstruct historical dietary and movement patterns of animals and humans. Here, we used a nonhuman primate system ( M acaca fascicularis ) to test the robustness of two different mechanistic stable isotope models: a model to predict the δ 2 H and δ 18 O values of body water and a second model to predict the δ 2 H and δ 18 O values of hair. In contrast to previous human‐based studies, use of nonhuman primates fed controlled diets allowed us to further constrain model parameter values and evaluate model predictions. Both models reliably predicted the δ 2 H and δ 18 O values of body water and of hair. Moreover, the isotope data allowed us to better quantify values for two critical variables in the models: the δ 2 H and δ 18 O values of gut water and the 18 O isotope fractionation associated with a carbonyl oxygen–water interaction in the gut (α ow ). Our modeling efforts indicated that better predictions for body water and hair isotope values were achieved by making the isotopic composition of gut water approached that of body water. Additionally, the value of α ow was 1.0164, in close agreement with the only other previously measured observation (microbial spore cell walls), suggesting robustness of this fractionation factor across different biological systems. Am. J. Primatol. 74:651–660, 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.