wtorek, 30 sierpnia 2011

Bardzo ciekawy wykład

W poniedziałek 12 września o godzinie 13.00 w sali konferencyjnej Instytutu Ochrony Przyrody PAN w Krakowie odbędzie się wykład prof. Keith A. Hobson z Canadian Wildlife Service pt. "From Birds to Butterflies: Some applications of stable isotopes to ecological studies”

Keith A. Hobson. Environment Canada. 11 Innovation Blvd., Saskatoon, SK, Canada.

The last decade has seen an exponential growth in the application of stable isotope measurements to ecological investigations. Three areas of particular significance involve applications to dietary reconstructions, tracking migration, and the quantification of endogenous vs. exogenous nutritional inputs to reproduction. In this seminar, I will review these applications with particular emphasis on the use of isotopic measurements of the light elements C,N,O,H,S and will cover recent studies involving a diverse array of taxa. Dietary applications involve the delineation of source of feeding and trophic interactions among individuals and species (using primarily 13C, 15N, 34S) and also in understanding the behavior of contaminants in aquatic systems. The investigation of migratory connectivity relies primarily on the use of δD, δ13C and δ15N values in tissues of terrestrial species but the potential for using similar approaches in marine systems appears promising. Together with genetic and trace element analyses, this approach promises to relieve some of the disadvantages of traditional mark-recapture approaches to tracking migratory wildlife and has been applied to organisms as small as monarch butterflies and other insects. The quantification of the allocation of nutrient reserves to eggs by laying females using stable isotope measurements (primarily 13C, 15N, 34S) of endogenous and exogenous reserves promises to shed new light on the evolution of life history traits involving the capital vs income continuum. While all of these recent advances herald an exciting future for isotopic applications to ecological studies, as with all new techniques it will be important to establish cautions and caveats to guide our research.