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Reconstructing herbivore diets: a multivariate statistical approach to interpreting amino acid nitrogen isotope values

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Abstract

Recent studies have demonstrated that there exists significant variability in amino acid (AA) δ15N values of terrestrial plants, discriminating among plant types (i.e., legume seeds, grasses, tree leaves) as well as tissues of the same plant. For the first time, we investigate the potential of the spacing between the δ15N values of different AAs to differentiate between plant types and thus elucidate their relative importance in herbivore diet. Using principal component analysis, we show that it is possible to distinguish among five plant categories—cereal grains, rachis, legume seeds, herbaceous plants, and woody plants—whose consumption has different implications for understanding herbivore ecology and management practices. Furthermore, we were able to correctly classify the herbaceous plant diet of modern cattle using AA δ15N values of their tooth dentine adjusted for trophic enrichment. The AA δ15N patterns of wild and domestic herbivores from archaeological sites seem to be consistent with diets comprised predominantly of herbaceous plants, but there is variation in AA δ15N values among individuals that may reflect differing inputs of other plant types. The variation in AA δ15N values does not necessarily reflect the variation in herbivore bulk collagen δ13C and δ15N values, indicating that AA δ15N values have the potential to provide additional insights into plant dietary sources compared to bulk tissue isotope values alone. Future work should focus on defining trophic enrichment factors for a wider range of terrestrial herbivores and expanding libraries of primary producer AA δ15N values.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Rothamsted Research and the Lawes Trust for access to the archived Rothamsted crop samples. We also thank Ines Merbach for sample collection from the Bad Lauchstädt Experimental Research Station, and the late Robert Orr for assistance with sample collection from the North Wyke Farm Platform, a UK National Capability supported by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC BB/J004308/1). We are very grateful to three anonymous reviewers whose careful comments have greatly improved this manuscript.

Funding

The AA δ15N values of modern crops and archaeological herbivore bone collagen were determined whilst AKS was in receipt of a NERC studentship (RE2158) that formed part of a NERC Standard Grant NE/E003761/1 (PI AB). The AA δ15N values of modern herbaceous and woody plants and cattle bone collagen were determined whilst IK was funded by the European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Grant NeoMilk (FP7-IDEAS-ERC/324202, to RPE). NERC (Reference: CC010) and NEIF (www.isotopesuk.org) are thanked for funding and maintenance of the GC-C-IRMS instruments used for this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Archaeology, University of Oxford, 34-36 Beaumont Street, Oxford, OX1 2PG, UK

    Mickey H. Y. Chen, Amy Bogaard & Amy K. Styring

  2. Organic Geochemistry Unit, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1TS, UK

    Iain P. Kendall & Richard P. Evershed

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  1. Mickey H. Y. Chen
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  2. Iain P. Kendall
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  4. Amy Bogaard
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Contributions

AKS designed the study and provided unpublished data, MHYC analyzed the data and designed the statistical framework, IPK provided additional unpublished data. MHYC wrote the manuscript with AKS and input from all authors.

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Correspondence to Mickey H. Y. Chen or Amy K. Styring.

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Additional information

Communicated by Seth Newsome.

Multivariate statistics show that patterns in amino acid nitrogen isotope values have the potential to differentiate between plant types and elucidate their contribution to herbivore diet.

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Chen, M.H.Y., Kendall, I.P., Evershed, R.P. et al. Reconstructing herbivore diets: a multivariate statistical approach to interpreting amino acid nitrogen isotope values. Oecologia 201, 599–608 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-023-05320-1

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