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在大陆之间长途迁徙。这对有效保护和了解影响其生存和成功繁殖的因素提出了巨大的挑战。饮食和营养在决定迁徙动物的成功与否方面起着至关重要的作用，因为迁徙动物需要为数百或数千公里的旅程提供燃料。在这些旅行中，动物经常需要在关键地点停留，以便休息和补充燃料。在到达目的地的过程中，它们经常遇到完全不同的食物网，需要相应地调整饮食和觅食。迁徙繁殖的候鸟也能够携带营养物质，最终可以传递给它们的后代，而其他生物，如迁徙的帝王蝶，需要带着足够的脂肪储备到达墨西哥的越冬地，以维持它们度过冬季禁食期。追踪迁移生物的营养途径的重要性是很重要的。这些知识将通过确定营养来源的关键栖息地，使对加拿大人重要的野生动物的保护更加知情。预期的信息还将帮助我们评估移徙者对当前和预期的全球变化的敏感性。我已经开发了利用食物网中自然存在的指纹，即（几种元素的）稳定同位素，来追踪野生鸟类和昆虫营养物质的来源和使用。我目前的建议是将这一研究领域提升到一个新的水平，从对羽毛等大块组织的分析进入到对单个氨基酸和脂质的分析领域。这将允许更精确的追踪，并遵循该领域最近的突破，该突破基于单个化合物的同位素比率可以提供更精确的营养水平和摄食来源信息。该提案将支持研究生论文项目，研究氨基酸（主要是谷氨酸和苯丙氨酸）和全脂质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)候鸟越冬生存所使用的储存脂质储备的来源，以及3)鸟类繁殖所需的储存与本地获取营养物质的贡献。

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.