Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001

PC18 Biogeochemical Cycles

Date: Thursday, February 15, 2001

Location: Southwest Hall

Chandra, S, , UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS, DAVIS, USA, SCHANDRA@UCDAVIS.EDU

Vander Zanden, J, , UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS, DAVIS, USA, JAKEVZ@HOTMAIL.COM

Gibson, E, , UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS, DAVIS, USA,

Reuter, J, E, UNIVERISTY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS, DAVIS, USA, JEREUTER@UCDAVIS.EDU

Goldman, C, R, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS, DAVIS, USA, CRGOLDMAN@UCDAVIS.EDU

MEASURING HISTORICAL BIOGEOCHEMICAL CHANGES AND FOOD WEB SHIFTS IN ECOSYSTEMS: A STABLE ISOTOPE ANALYSIS OF FISH COLLECTIONS FROM LAKE TAHOE

Stable isotope signatures of carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) are increasingly used to measure time-integrated feeding behavior of organisms, energy flow through food webs, and biogeochemical cycling changes to ecosystems. Most studies employing these measurements exclusively analyze present day biotic samples, often ignoring historical changes to the ecosystem resulting from anthropogenic or natural perturbations. This study investigated the change in stable isotope signatures of fish collected during the last 110 years from Lake Tahoe. We analyzed dorsal muscle tissue of littoral and benthic fish from specimens archived in museums. Preliminary analysis indicates biogeochemical shifts occurring in Lake Tahoe during the 1940’s. This study suggests the potential use for looking at historical biogeochemical and feeding shifts in ecosystems using stable isotopes from preserved samples.

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Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001

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