干旱区生态环境知识资源中心

We present the first high-resolution carbon and oxygen isotope profiles of carbonate in modern wombat (genera Vombatus and Lasiorhinus) tooth enamel and demonstrate that the carbon isotope ratios (delta(13)C) clearly preserve seasonal changes in diet and local environmental conditions. Our baseline study of delta(13)C in tooth enamel and bone collagen from wombats that inhabited semi-arid, savannah, temperate and alpine environments in eastern Australia documented an offset of 5.2 +/- 0.4 parts per thousand and 12.9 +/- 0.3 parts per thousand from the animal’s diet, respectively. Marsupial wombats are obligate grazers, whose teeth grow continuously. Sequential microanalysis of delta(13)C and delta(18)O along the length of wombat incisors yielded a time-series of isotopic variation. The microprofiles of wombat tooth delta(18)O are highly variable between and within sites. Notwithstanding, the delta(18)O values were relatively high in wombat teeth from and and semi-arid sites, and significantly lower in those from southern temperate and coastal regions. In contrast, the delta(13)C of wombat tooth enamel correlates well with the local environmental setting and the seasonality of C(3) and C(4) grass growth. In areas with marked seasonal changes in the proportions of winter C(3) and summer C(4) grasses, wombat microprofile delta(13)C Values varied by up to 8 parts per thousand. Importantly, at sites with predominantly C(3) or C(4) grasses all year, variations in microprofile delta(13)C values are small (< 1.9 parts per thousand), indicating that the relatively large seasonality in delta(13)C we observe in wombat teeth must be primarily controlled by changes in diet, rather than animal-specific factors. This study shows that microprofiling of delta(13)C in wombat incisors, in particular, provides a high level of isotopic detail which is not available from time-averaged isotope records from bone collagen, or bulk analysis of isotopes in tooth enamel. Wombat teeth are common in the Quaternary fossil record and, as such, they have the potential to be outstanding archives of palaeoecological information. For example the delta(13)C of fossil wombat teeth could be used to define the changing proportions of C(3) and C(4) grasses in wombat diets through the Quaternary, which in turn reflect changes in the seasonality of precipitation, summer temperatures, and possible ecosystem modification by human activities. Crown Copyright (C) 2008 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.