2023 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Conference

March 5-7, 2023 • Cincinnati, OH

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6/08/2017 | 11:00 AM - 11:15 AM | SPATIAL VARIATION IN FATTY ACID AND STABLE ISOTOPE SIGNATURES AMONG TROPHIC LEVELS IN LOTIC SYSTEMS | 306B

SPATIAL VARIATION IN FATTY ACID AND STABLE ISOTOPE SIGNATURES AMONG TROPHIC LEVELS IN LOTIC SYSTEMS

Fatty acid and stable isotope signatures allow researchers to better understand food webs. Research in marine systems has indicated that the variance of these biomarkers can exhibit substantial differences across spatial scales, but this type of analysis has not been completed for lotic systems. Our objectives were to evaluate variance structures for fatty acids and stable isotopes (i.e., dC13 and dN15) of target organisms across spatial scales in lotic systems and the implications of this variance on the design and interpretation of trophic studies. Our study focused on sites in large rivers including the Upper Mississippi, Illinois, and St. Croix rivers. Plankton, mussel, caddisfly, bluegill, and gizzard shad samples were collected from mainstem and backwater habitats. PERMANOVA analyses indicated that the highest variation for both isotopes was present at the largest spatial scale for all taxa except plankton dN15. Conversely, the highest variation for fatty acids was present at the smallest spatial scale for all taxa except caddisflies. These data highlight the need to consider the spatial level of highest variance during sample design so that effort is partitioned accordingly.

C06 Large River Ecology
C11 Community Ecology
C25 Food Webs

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Presenters/Authors

Andrea Fritts (), U.S. Geological Survey, afritts@usgs.gov;