Dataset Information

Effect of Organic Food Intake on Nitrogen Stable Isotopes.

ABSTRACT: Food choices affect the isotopic composition of the body with each food item leaving its distinct isotopic imprint. The common view is that the natural abundance of the stable isotopes of nitrogen (expressed as ?15N) is higher in animals than in plants that constitute our contemporary diets. Higher ?15N is thus increasingly viewed as a biomarker for meat and fish intake. Here we show that organic compared to conventional farming increases plant ?15N to an extent that can appreciably impact the performance of ?15N as a biomarker. The error that can arise when organic plants are consumed was modelled for the entire range of proportions of plant versus animal protein intake, and accounting for various intakes of organic and conventionally grown crops. This mass balance model allows the interpretation of differences in ?15N in light of organic food consumption. Our approach shows that the relationship between ?15N and meat and fish intake is highly contextual and susceptible to variation at the population, community or group level. We recommend that fertilization practices and organic plant consumption must not be overlooked when using ?15N as a biomarker for meat and fish intake or to assess compliance to nutritional interventions.

SUBMITTER: Mantha OL

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7601395 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Effect of Organic Food Intake on Nitrogen Stable Isotopes.

Mantha Olivier L OL Laxmi Patel Maya M Hankard Régis R De Luca Arnaud A

Nutrients 20200928 10

Food choices affect the isotopic composition of the body with each food item leaving its distinct isotopic imprint. The common view is that the natural abundance of the stable isotopes of nitrogen (expressed as δ15N) is higher in animals than in plants that constitute our contemporary diets. Higher δ15N is thus increasingly viewed as a biomarker for meat and fish intake. Here we show that organic compared to conventional farming increases plant δ15N to an extent ...[more]

PMID: 32998302

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Project description:Increasingly, stable isotope ratios of nitrogen (δ(15)N) and carbon (δ(13)C) are used to quantify trophic structure, though relatively few studies have tested accuracy of isotopic structural measures. For laboratory-raised and wild-collected plant-invertebrate food chains spanning four trophic levels we estimated nitrogen range (NR) using δ(15)N, and carbon range (CR) using δ(13)C, which are used to quantify food chain length and breadth of trophic resources respectively. Across a range of known food chain lengths we examined how NR and CR changed within and between food chains. Our isotopic estimates of structure are robust because they were calculated using resampling procedures that propagate variance in sample means through to quantified uncertainty in final estimates. To identify origins of uncertainty in estimates of NR and CR, we additionally examined variation in discrimination (which is change in δ(15)N or δ(13)C from source to consumer) between trophic levels and among food chains. δ(15)N discrimination showed significant enrichment, while variation in enrichment was species and system specific, ranged broadly (1.4‰ to 3.3‰), and importantly, propagated variation to subsequent estimates of NR. However, NR proved robust to such variation and distinguished food chain length well, though some overlap between longer food chains infers a need for awareness of such limitations. δ(13)C discrimination was inconsistent; generally no change or small significant enrichment was observed. Consequently, estimates of CR changed little with increasing food chain length, showing the potential utility of δ(13)C as a tracer of energy pathways. This study serves as a robust test of isotopic quantification of food chain structure, and given global estimates of aquatic food chains approximate four trophic levels while many food chains include invertebrates, our use of four trophic level plant-invertebrate food chains makes our findings relevant for a majority of ecological systems.

Dataset Information

Effect of Organic Food Intake on Nitrogen Stable Isotopes.

Publications

Effect of Organic Food Intake on Nitrogen Stable Isotopes.

Similar Datasets

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