Abstract
ABSTRACTNaturally occurring deuterium (2H) in biota can be used to trace movement, migration and geographic origin of a range of organisms. However, to evaluate movements of animals using δ2H measurements of tissues, it is necessary to establish the turnover time of 2H in the tissues and the extent of isotopic discrimination from different environmental 2H sources to those tissues. We investigated the turnover of 2H in lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens) blood by manipulating both environmental water δ2H and diet δ2H 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 δ2H of +714 ‰. However, no clear turnover in blood 2H 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 2H exchanges much faster with blood than diets and that blood δ2H values can be used to trace movements of sturgeon and other fish moving among isotopically distinct waters.
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