title: Isotopic Differences between Forage Consumed by a Large Herbivore in Open, Closed, and Coastal Habitats: New Evidence from a Boreal Study System.
abstract: Documenting habitat-related patterns in foraging behaviour at the individual level and over large temporal scales remains challenging for large herbivores. Stable isotope analysis could represent a valuable tool to quantify habitat-related foraging behaviour at the scale of individuals and over large temporal scales in forest dwelling large herbivores living in coastal environments, because the carbon (δ13C) or nitrogen (δ15N) isotopic signatures of forage can differ between open and closed habitats or between terrestrial and littoral forage, respectively. Here, we examined if we could detect isotopic differences between the different assemblages of forage taxa consumed by white-tailed deer that can be found in open, closed, supralittoral, and littoral habitats. We showed that δ13C of assemblages of forage taxa were 3.0 ‰ lower in closed than in open habitats, while δ15N were 2.0 ‰ and 7.4 ‰ higher in supralittoral and littoral habitats, respectively, than in terrestrial habitats. Stable isotope analysis may represent an additional technique for ecologists interested in quantifiying the consumption of terrestrial vs. marine autotrophs. Yet, given the relative isotopic proximity and the overlap between forage from open, closed, and supralittoral habitats, the next step would be to determine the potential to estimate their contribution to herbivore diet.
authors.affiliation: Département de Biologie and Centre d'Études Nordiques, NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Integrated Management of Resources of Anticosti Island, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada.
authors.forename: Marie-Andrée
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Giroux
authors.affiliation: Département de Biologie and Centre d'Études Nordiques, NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Integrated Management of Resources of Anticosti Island, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada.
authors.forename: Éliane
authors.initials: É
authors.lastname: Valiquette
authors.affiliation: Département de Biologie and Centre d'Études Nordiques, NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Integrated Management of Resources of Anticosti Island, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada.|Center for Forest Research, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada.
authors.forename: Jean-Pierre
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Tremblay
authors.affiliation: Département de Biologie and Centre d'Études Nordiques, NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Integrated Management of Resources of Anticosti Island, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada.
authors.forename: Steeve D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Côté
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002170:Canada; D002247:Carbon Isotopes / Q000737:chemistry; D035401:Conyza / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D029768:Cornus / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D017753:Ecosystem; D060434:Herbivory; D007553:Isotope Labeling; D009587:Nitrogen Isotopes / Q000737:chemistry; D012624:Seaweed / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D002247:Carbon Isotopes; D009587:Nitrogen Isotopes