title: Turnover of hydrogen isotopes in lake sturgeon blood: implications for tracking movements of wild populations.
abstract: Naturally occurring deuterium ((2)H) in biota can be used to trace movement, migration and geographic origin of a range of organisms. However, to evaluate movements of animals using δ(2)H measurements of tissues, it is necessary to establish the turnover time of (2)H in the tissues and the extent of isotopic discrimination from different environmental (2)H sources to those tissues. We investigated the turnover of (2)H in lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens) blood by manipulating both environmental water δ(2)H and diet δ(2)H over a four-month period. The half-life of deuterium in lake sturgeon blood was 37.9 days after an increase in the environmental water δ(2)H of +714 ‰. However, no clear turnover in blood (2)H occurred over the same period in a separate trial following a change of -63.8 ‰ or +94.2 ‰ in diet. These findings suggest that environmental water (2)H exchanges much faster with blood than diets and that blood δ(2)H values can be used to trace movements of sturgeon and other fish moving among isotopically distinct waters.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Biology , University of Saskatchewan , Saskatchewan , Canada.|b TRoutreach Saskatchewan, Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation , Saskatchewan , Canada.
authors.forename: Natasha M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Kreitals
authors.affiliation: c Environment Canada , Saskatchewan , Canada.
authors.forename: Keith A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Hobson
authors.affiliation: a Department of Biology , University of Saskatchewan , Saskatchewan , Canada.|b TRoutreach Saskatchewan, Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation , Saskatchewan , Canada.
authors.forename: Brittney M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Hoemsen
authors.affiliation: a Department of Biology , University of Saskatchewan , Saskatchewan , Canada.
authors.forename: Adam L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Crane
authors.affiliation: a Department of Biology , University of Saskatchewan , Saskatchewan , Canada.
authors.forename: Van
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Wishingrad
authors.affiliation: a Department of Biology , University of Saskatchewan , Saskatchewan , Canada.
authors.forename: Janelle
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sloychuk
authors.affiliation: d Water Security Agency , Saskatchewan , Canada.
authors.forename: Michael S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Pollock
authors.affiliation: a Department of Biology , University of Saskatchewan , Saskatchewan , Canada.
authors.forename: Douglas P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Chivers
authors.affiliation: a Department of Biology , University of Saskatchewan , Saskatchewan , Canada.|b TRoutreach Saskatchewan, Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation , Saskatchewan , Canada.|d Water Security Agency , Saskatchewan , Canada.
authors.forename: Iain D
authors.initials: ID
authors.lastname: Phillips
mesh_terms: D025041:Animal Migration; D000818:Animals; D003903:Deuterium / Q000097:blood*; D004032:Diet; D005399:Fishes / Q000097:blood* / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D003903:Deuterium
keywords: Blood; fish; hydrogen-2; isotope ecology; lake sturgeon; migration; stable isotope tracer technique; tissue turnover