Tracing origins and nutrient allocations in migrating birds and insects using compound-specific isotope techniques

候鸟、昆虫和其他动物在它们的年度周期中经常跨越遥远的距离和在大陆之间迁徙。这给它们的有效保护和了解影响它们生存和成功繁殖的因素带来了巨大的挑战。饮食和营养在决定迁徙动物成功与否方面发挥着至关重要的作用，因为迁徙动物需要为他们可能长达数百或数千公里的旅程加油。在这些旅行中，动物经常需要在关键地点停留，在那里它们可以休息和补充燃料。在到达目的地的过程中，它们经常会遇到完全不同的食物网，需要相应地调整饮食和觅食。迁徙繁殖的候鸟还可以携带营养物质，这些营养物质最终可以转移给后代，而其他生物，如迁徙的帝王蝶，需要带着足够的脂肪储备抵达墨西哥的越冬地，以维持它们度过冬季的禁食期。追踪营养途径对迁徙生物的重要性是很重要的。这些知识将通过确定营养物质的关键栖息地，使加拿大人能够更明智地保护对加拿大人至关重要的野生动物。预期的信息还将帮助我们评估移民对当前和预期的全球变化的敏感性。我开发了食物网中自然产生的指纹的使用，称为稳定同位素(几种元素)，以追踪野生鸟类和昆虫的营养来源和使用。我目前的建议是将这一研究领域提升到一个新的水平，从对羽毛等大宗组织的分析转移到单个氨基酸和脂肪的领域。这将允许更精确的追踪，并遵循这一领域最近的突破，因为发现单个化合物中的同位素比率可以提供更准确的营养水平和喂养来源的信息。这项提议将支持研究生论文项目，以研究氨基酸(主要是谷氨酸和苯丙氨酸)和全脂稳定同位素分析作为指纹的使用，以评估1)候鸟(画眉和滨鸟)的长期饮食重建，2)候鸟用于越冬生存的储存脂肪储备的来源，以及3)储存的与当地获得的营养物质对迁徙繁殖的鸟类繁殖的贡献。

Migratory birds, insects and other animals often move over vast distances and between continents during their annual cycles. This presents immense challenges for their effective conservation and understanding of the factors influencing their survival and successful reproduction. Diet and nutrition play a fundamental role in determining the success of migratory animals because migrants need to fuel their journeys which may be hundreds or thousands of kilometers. During these travels, animals often need to stopover at key sites where they can rest and refuel. In reaching their destinations, they often encounter entirely different foodwebs and need to adjust their diets and foraging accordingly. Migrants that travel to breed also are able to carry nutrients with them that ultimately can be transferred to their offspring while other organisms like migratory Monarch Butterflies need to arrive on their wintering grounds in Mexico with enough fat reserves to last them through the winter fasting period. It is important to trace the importance of nutrient pathways to migratory organisms. Such knowledge will allow much more informed conservation of wildlife important to Canadians by identifying critical habitats where nutrients are derived. The anticipated information will also help us assess the susceptibility of migrants to current and anticipated global change. I have developed the use of naturally occurring fingerprints in foodwebs known as stable isotopes (of several elements) to trace origins and use of nutrients in wild birds and insects. My current proposal is to move this area of research to a new level, from analyses of bulk tissues like feathers into the realm of individual amino acids and lipids. This will allow more precise tracing and follows from recent breakthroughs in this field based on the discovery that isotope ratios in individual compounds can provide more precise information of trophic level and source of feeding. This proposal will support graduate thesis projects to examine the use of amino acid (primarily glutamate and phenylalanine) and whole lipid stable isotope analyses as fingerprints to evaluate 1) long-term dietary reconstruction in migratory birds (thrushes and shorebirds), 2) origins of stored lipid reserves used by migratory insects for overwinter survival and 3) contributions of stored vs. locally acquired nutrients for reproduction in birds that travel to breed.