Spatial ecology of moose in Sweden: Combined Sr-O-C isotope analyses of bone and antler

by Elena Armaroli, Federico Lugli, Anna Cipriani, Thomas T ütken The study of spatial (paleo)ecology in mammals is critical to understand how animals adapt to and exploit their environment. In this work we analysed the87Sr/86Sr, δ18O and δ13C isotope composition of 65 moose bone and antler samples from Sweden from wild-shot individuals dated between 1800 and 1994 to study moose mobility and feeding behaviour for (paleo)ecological applications. Sr data were compared with isoscapes of the Scandinavian region, builtad-hoc during this study, to understand how moose utilise the landscape in Northern Europe. The87Sr/86Sr isoscape was developed using a machine-learning approach with external geo-environmental predictors and literature data. Similarly, a δ18O isoscape, obtained from average annual precipitation δ18O values, was employed to highlight differences in the isotope composition of the local environment vs. bone/antler. Overall, 82% of the moose samples were compatible with the likely local isotope composition (n = 53), suggesting that they were shot not far from their year-round dwelling area. ‘Local’ samples were used to calibrate the two isoscapes, to improve the prediction of provenance for the presumably ‘non-local’ individuals. For the latter (n = 12, of which two are antlers and ten are bones), the probability of geographic origin was estimated using a Bayesian approach by c ombining the two isoscapes. Interestingly, two of these samples (one antler and ...
Source: PLoS One - Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Source Type: research