Stable isotope series from elephant ivory reveal lifetime histories of a true dietary generalist
- Codron, Jacqueline Department of Archaeology, University of Cape Town, Private Bag, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa
- Codron, Daryl Department of Anthropology, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309, USA
- Sponheimer, Matt Department of Anthropology, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309, USA
- Kirkman, Kevin School of Biological and Conservation Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Private Bag X01, Scottsville 3209, South Africa
- Duffy, Kevin J. Centre for Systems Research, Durban Institute of Technology, Durban, South Africa
- Raubenheimer, Erich J. Department of Oral Pathology, School of Oral Health Sciences, University of Limpopo, Limpopo, South Africa
- Mélice, Jean-Luc Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Laboratoire LOCEAN, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, 75252 Paris, France
- Grant, Rina Scientific Services, Kruger National Park, Private Bag X402, Skukuza 1350, South Africa
- Clauss, Marcus Clinic for Zoo Animals, Exotic Pets and Wildlife, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 260, 8057 Zürich, Switzerland
- Lee-Thorp, Julia A. Research Laboratory for Archaeology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QY, UK
- 2012-2-15
Published in:
- Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. - The Royal Society. - 2012, vol. 279, no. 1737, p. 2433-2441
General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
General Immunology and Microbiology
General Agricultural and Biological Sciences
General Environmental Science
General Medicine
English
Longitudinal studies have revealed how variation in resource use within consumer populations can impact their dynamics and functional significance in communities. Here, we investigate multi-decadal diet variations within individuals of a keystone megaherbivore species, the African elephant (
Loxodonta africana
), using serial stable isotope analysis of tusks from the Kruger National Park, South Africa. These records, representing the longest continuous diet histories documented for any extant species, reveal extensive seasonal and annual variations in isotopic—and hence dietary—niches of individuals, but little variation between them. Lack of niche distinction across individuals contrasts several recent studies, which found relatively high levels of individual niche specialization in various taxa. Our result is consistent with theory that individual mammal herbivores are nutritionally constrained to maintain broad diet niches. Individual diet specialization would also be a costly strategy for large-bodied taxa foraging over wide areas in spatio-temporally heterogeneous environments. High levels of within-individual diet variability occurred within and across seasons, and persisted despite an overall increase in inferred C
4
grass consumption through the twentieth century. We suggest that switching between C
3
browsing and C
4
grazing over extended time scales facilitates elephant survival through environmental change, and could even allow recovery of overused resources.
Longitudinal studies have revealed how variation in resource use within consumer populations can impact their dynamics and functional significance in communities. Here, we investigate multi-decadal diet variations within individuals of a keystone megaherbivore species, the African elephant (
), using serial stable isotope analysis of tusks from the Kruger National Park, South Africa. These records, representing the longest continuous diet histories documented for any extant species, reveal extensive seasonal and annual variations in isotopic—and hence dietary—niches of individuals, but little variation between them. Lack of niche distinction across individuals contrasts several recent studies, which found relatively high levels of individual niche specialization in various taxa. Our result is consistent with theory that individual mammal herbivores are nutritionally constrained to maintain broad diet niches. Individual diet specialization would also be a costly strategy for large-bodied taxa foraging over wide areas in spatio-temporally heterogeneous environments. High levels of within-individual diet variability occurred within and across seasons, and persisted despite an overall increase in inferred C
grass consumption through the twentieth century. We suggest that switching between C
browsing and C
grazing over extended time scales facilitates elephant survival through environmental change, and could even allow recovery of overused resources.
- Language
-
- English
- Open access status
- bronze
- Identifiers
-
- DOI 10.1098/rspb.2011.2472
- ISSN 0962-8452
- Persistent URL
- https://sonar.ch/global/documents/226921
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