Selection of isotopic baselines in marine ecosystems

Abstract

Stable isotope analysis has been widely used in marine food web studies. An appropriate isotopic baseline is essential for calculating diet or trophic position of marine organisms when using stable isotopic data. This paper provided an overview of the selection of isotopic baselines for four ty-pical marine ecosystems, i.e. estuary and bay, neritic zone, oceanic zone, and deep sea. The interferential factors of baseline selection and the significance of compound specific stable isotope in minimizing the effects of temporal-spatial variations of isotopic baseline were summarized, and the issues needed to be solved in this field and several directions for further research were presented. It would provide a beneficial reference for further research on stable isotope ecology in marine ecosystems.