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Stable isotopes reveal strong marine and El Niño effects on island food webs

Nature volume 401, pages 467–469 (1999)Cite this article

Abstract

Stable isotope analysis is a powerful tool for unravelling the complex structure of food webs1,2,3. This technique is particularly well suited for studies at ecosystem boundaries, where physical processes and mobile consumers link the dynamics of seemingly disparate systems4,5,6. In coastal and insular environments, seabirds play a crucial role in transporting marine-based energy and nutrients to islands7,8,9. Here we show using stable isotopes that nutrients from the ocean drive the dynamics of terrestrial food webs on small islands. The indirect effects of seabird-derived nutrients on plant productivity are particularly prominent during wet El Niño Southern Oscillation years on our Gulf of California study sites. During dry years that characterize the region, many terrestrial consumers are subsidized by carrion and prey from the ocean. Shifts in trophic structure related to El Niño Southern Oscillation could only be elucidated because of the distinct nitrogen isotope ratios associated with seabird islands. The contributions of seabirds and other marine sources are reflected in the isotope signatures of terrestrial consumers in ways that challenge conventional interpretations of stable isotope results in studies of food webs.

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Figure 1: Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope signatures (mean ± 1 s.e.) of food webs associated with SB islands (filled circles), NB islands (open circles), the intertidal zone (filled squares) and marine carrion (filled diamonds) during 1998, a wet El Niño year.
Figure 2: Shift in carbon and nitrogen isotope signatures (mean ± 1 s.e.) of omnivorous rodents (Peromyscus) and tenebrionid beetles from a typical dry year (1997; triangles) to a wet El Niño year (1998; circles).

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Acknowledgements

We thank the National Science Foundation and the EarthWatch Institute for support. J. Roach, D. Coomes and S. Hastings assisted with laboratory work. A. Boulton, G. Huxel, A. Sears and J. Vander Zanden provided comments on the manuscript.

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  1. Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California, Davis, 95616, California, USA

    Paul Stapp, Gary A. Polis & Francisco Sánchez Piñero

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  1. Paul Stapp
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  2. Gary A. Polis
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  3. Francisco Sánchez Piñero
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Correspondence to Paul Stapp.

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Stapp, P., Polis, G. & Sánchez Piñero, F. Stable isotopes reveal strong marine and El Niño effects on island food webs. Nature 401, 467–469 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/46769

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