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Journal of Undergraduate Research

Keywords

isotopic patterns, rock pools, migration, tenajas

College

Life Sciences

Department

Biology

Abstract

Isotopic analysis with natural markers has been applied to tracking the migration of birds and butterflies as well as many other species over large geographic scales.1-4 We wanted to zoom in on a much smaller scale and determine whether stable isotopes could be used to track the small-scale dispersal of insects among rock pools and tenajas (a series of rock pools in a drainage).5 Stable isotopes have been used to study aquatic invertebrate dispersal and metapopulation dynamics by artificially spiking water sources with 15N-enriched NH4Cl. 6,7 However, it is not known how this chemical may have altered the ecology of the ponds, rivers and insects in question. Rock pools are much smaller than the bodies of water which have been artificially labeled and are much more subject to stochastic events, adding to their fragility. Therefore, there is a need to find natural markers, thus avoiding the possibility of altering rock pool ecology. Because of pools differing sizes, species compositions, and hydroperiods, we hypothesized that insects would have natural 12C/13C and 14N/15N ratios that would label them uniquely as to their pool of origin. Herein we show the degree to which stable isotope ratios of carbon and nitrogen discriminate between aquatic invertebrates from different pools.

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