Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T18:01:18.122Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Stable isotope ecology of land snails from a high-latitude site near Fairbanks, interior Alaska, USA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Yurena Yanes
Yurena Yanes*
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221, United States
*
*E-mail address:[email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Land snails have been investigated isotopically in tropical islands and mid-latitude continental settings, while high-latitude locales, where snails grow only during the summer, have been overlooked. This study presents the first isotopic baseline of live snails from Fairbanks, Alaska (64°51’N), a proxy calibration necessary prior to paleoenvironmental inferences using fossils. δ13C values of the shell (– 10.4 ± 0.4‰) and the body (– 25.5 ± 1.0‰) indicate that snails consumed fresh and decayed C 3-plants and fungi. A flux-balance mixing model suggests that specimens differed in metabolic rates, which may complicate paleovegetation inferences. Shell δ18O values (– 10.8 ± 0.4‰) were ~ 4‰ higher than local summer rain δ18O. If calcification occurred during summer, a flux-balance mixing model suggests that snails grew at temperatures of ~ 13°C, rainwater δ18O values of ~– 15‰ and relative humidity of ~ 93%. Results from Fairbanks were compared to shells from San Salvador (Bahamas), at 24°51’N. Average (annual) δ18O values of shells and rainwater samples from The Bahamas were both ~ 10‰ 18O-enriched with respect to seasonal (summer) Alaskan samples. At a coarse latitudinal scale, shell δ18O values overwhelmingly record the signature of the rainfall during snail active periods. While tropical snails record annual average environmental information, high-latitude specimens only trace summer season climatic data.

Keywords

Land snailsStable isotopesBoreal forestFairbanksQuaternary
Type
Original Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 83 , Issue 3 , May 2015 , pp. 588 - 595
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ansart, A., Vernon, P., Daguzan, J. (2002). Elements of cold hardiness in a littoral population of the land snail Helix aspersa (Gastropoda: Pulmonata). Journal of Comparative Physiology B 172, 619–625.Google Scholar
Balakrishnan, M., Yapp, C.J. (2004). Flux balance model for the oxygen and carbon isotope compositions of land snail shells. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 68, 2007–2024.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Balakrishnan, M., Yapp, C.J., Theler, J.L., Carter, B.J., Wyckoff, D.G. (2005a). Environmental significance of 13C/12C and 18O/16O ratios of modern land-snail shells from the southern Great Plains of North America. Quaternary Research 63, 15–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Balakrishnan, M., Yapp, C.J., Meltzer, D.J., Theler, J.L. (2005b). Paleoenvironment of the Folsom archaeological site, New Mexico, USA, approximately 10,500 14C yr B.P. as inferred from the stable isotope composition of fossil land snail shells. Quaternary Research 63, 31–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baldini, L.M., Walker, S.E., Bruce, R., Baldini, J.U.L., Crowe, D.E. (2007). Isotope ecology of the modern land snails Cerion, San Salvador, Bahamas: preliminary advances toward establishing a low-latitude island palaeoenvironmental proxy. Palaios 22, 174–187.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Colonese, A.C., Zanchetta, G., Fallick, A.E., Martini, F., Manganelli, G., Lo Vetro, D. (2007). Stable isotope composition of late glacial land snail shells from Grotta del Romito (Southern Italy): paleoclimatic implications. Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology 254, 550–560.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Colonese, A.C., Zanchetta, G., Fallick, A.E., Martini, F., Manganelli, G., Russell, D. (2010a). Stable isotope composition of Helix ligata (Müller, 1774) from Late Pleistocene–Holocene archaeological record from Grotta della Serratura (Southern Italy): paleoclimatic implications. Global and Planetary Change 71, 249–257.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Colonese, A.C., Zanchetta, G., Dotsika, E., Drysdale, R.N., Fallick, A.E., Grifoni-Cremonesi, R., Manganelli, G. (2010b). Early-middle Holocene land snail shell stable isotope record from Grotta di Latronico 3 (southern Italy). Journal of Quaternary Science 25, 1347–1359.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Colonese, A.C., Zanchetta, G., Russell, D., Fallick, A., Manganelli, G., Lo Vetro, D., Martini, F., di Giuseppe, Z. (2011). Stable isotope composition of Late Pleistocene-Holocene Eobania vermiculata shells (Miller, 1774) (Pulmonata, Stylommatophora) from the Central Mediterranean basin: data from Grotta d'Oriente (Favignana, Sicily). Quaternary International 244, 76–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Colonese, A.C., Zanchetta, G., Fallick, A.E., Manganelli, G., Saia, M., Alcade, G., Nebot, J. (2013a). Holocene snail shell isotopic record of millennial scale hydrological conditions in western Mediterranean: data from Bauma del Serrat del Pont (NE Iberian Peninsula). Quaternary International 303, 43–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Colonese, A.C., Zanchetta, G., Perl"s, C., Drysdale, R.N., Manganelli, G., Baneschi, I., Dotsika, E., Valladas, H. (2013b). Deciphering late Quaternary land snail shell δ18O and δ13C from Franchthi Cave (Argolid, Greece). Quaternary Research 80, 66–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DeNiro, M.J., Epstein, S. (1978). Influence of diet on the distribution of carbon isotopes in animals. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 42, 495–506.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gomot de Vaufleury, A. (2001). Regulation of growth and reproduction. Barker, G.M. The Biology of Terrestrial Mollusk CABI, 331–356.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goodfriend, G.A. (1987). Radiocarbon age anomalies in shell carbonate of land snails from semi-arid areas. Radiocarbon 29, 159–167.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goodfriend, G.A. (1992). The use of land snail shells in paleoenvironmental reconstruction. Quaternary Science Reviews 11, 665–685.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goodfriend, G.A. (1999). Terrestrial stable isotope records of late Quaternary paleoclimates in the eastern Mediterranean region. Quaternary Science Reviews 18, 501–513.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goodfriend, G.A., Ellis, G.L. (2000). Stable carbon isotope record of middle to late Holocene climate changes from land snail shells at Hinds Cave. Texas. Quaternary International 67, 47–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goodfriend, G.A., Ellis, G.L. (2002). Stable carbon and oxygen isotope variations in modern Rabdotus land snail shells in the southern Great Plains, USA, and their relation to environment. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 66, 1987–2002.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goodfriend, G.A., Hood, D.G. (1983). Carbon isotope analysis of land snail shells: implications for carbon sources and radiocarbon dating. Radiocarbon 25, 810–830.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grossman, E.L., Ku, T.L. (1986). Oxygen and carbon isotope fractionation in biogenic aragonite. Chemical Geology 59, 59–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kehrwald, N.M., McCoy, W.D., Thibeault, J., Burns, S.J., Oches, E.A. (2010). Paleoclimatic implications of the spatial patterns of modern and LGM European land-snail shell δ18O. Quaternary Research 74, 166–176.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lécolle, P. (1985). The oxygen isotope composition of land snail shells as a climatic indicator: applications to hydrogeology and paleoclimatology. Chemical Geology 58, 157–181.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Metref, S., Rousseau, D.D., Bentaleb, I., Labonne, M., Vianey-Liaud, M. (2003). Study of the diet effect on δ13C of shell carbonate of the land snail Helix aspersa in experimental conditions. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 211, 381–393.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moine, O., Rousseau, D.D., Antoine, P. (2005). Terrestrial molluscan records of Weichselian Lower to Middle Pleniglacial climatic changes from the Nussloch loess series (Rhine Valley, Germany): the impact of local factors. Boreas 34, 363–380.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moine, O., Rousseau, D.D., Antoine, P. (2008). The impact of Dansgaard-Oeschger cycles on the loessic environment and malacofauna of Nussloch (Germany) during the Upper Weichselian. Quaternary Research 70, 91–104.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nicolai, A., Filser, J., Briand, V., Charrier, M. (2010). Seasonally contrasting life-history strategies in the land snail Cornu aspersum: physiological and ecological implications. Canadian Journal of Zoology 88, 995–1002.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nicolai, A., Filser, J., Lenz, R., Bertrand, C., Charrier, M. (2012). Quantitative assessment of hemolymph metabolites in two physiological states and two populations of the land snail Helix pomatia . Physiological and Biochemical Zoology 85, 274–284.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Prstan, A. (2010). Reproductive biology and annual population cycle of Oxyloma retusum (Pulmonata: Succineidae). American Malacological Bulletin 28, 113–120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pearce, T.A., Rrstan, A. (2006). Terrestrial Gastropoda. Sturm, C.F., Pearce, T.A., Valds, A. The Mollusks: A Guide to Their Study, Collection, and Preservation American Malacological Society, .Google Scholar
Pigati, J.S., Rech, J.A., Nekola, J.C. (2010). Radiocarbon dating of small terrestrial gastropod shells in North America. Quaternary Geochronology 5, 519–532.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pigati, J.S., McGeehin, J.P., Muhs, D.R., Bettis, E.A. (2013). Radiocarbon dating late Quaternary loess deposits using small terrestrial gastropod shells. Quaternary Science Reviews 76, 114–128.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Speiser, B. (2001). Food and feeding behavior. Barker, G.M. The Biology of Terrestrial Mollusk CABI, 259–288.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stott, L.D. (2002). The influence of diet on the δ13C of shell carbon in the pulmonate snail Helix aspersa . Earth and Planetary Science Letters 195, 249–259.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yanes, Y., Romanek, C.S. (2013). Quaternary interglacial environmental stability in San Salvador Island (Bahamas): a land snail isotopic approach. Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology 369, 28–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yanes, Y., Delgado, A., Castillo, C., Alonso, M.R., Ibáñez, M., De la Nuez, J., Kowalewski, M. (2008). Stable isotope (δ18O, δ13C, and δD) signatures of recent terrestrial communities from a low-latitude, oceanic setting: endemic land snails, plants, rain, and carbonate sediments from the eastern Canary Islands. Chemical Geology 249, 377–392.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yanes, Y., Romanek, C.S., Delgado, A., Brant, H.A., Noakes, J.E., Alonso, M.R., Ibiez, M. (2009). Oxygen and carbon stable isotopes of modern land snail shells as environmental indicators from a low-latitude oceanic island. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 73, 4077–4099.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yanes, Y., Yapp, C.J., Ibáñez, M., Alonso, M.R., De la Nuez, J., Quesada, M.L., Castillo, C., Delgado, A. (2011a). Pleistocene-Holocene environmental change in the Canary Archipelago as inferred from stable isotopes of land snail shells. Quaternary Research 65, 658–669.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yanes, Y., Romanek, C.S., Molina, F., Camara, J.A., Delgado, A. (2011b). Holocene Paleoenvironment (7,200-4,000 cal. years BP) of the Los Castillejos Archaeological site (Southern Spain) as inferred from stable isotopes of land snail shells. Quaternary International 244, 67–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yanes, Y., Gutiirrez-Zugasti, I., Delgado, A. (2012). Late glacial-early Holocene transition in northern Spain deduced from terrestrial gastropod shelly accumulations. Quaternary Research 78, 373–385.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yanes, Y., García-Alix, A., Asta, M.P., Ibiez, M., Alonso, M.R., Delgado, A. (2013a). Late Pleistocene-Holocene environmental conditions in Lanzarote (Canary Islands) inferred from calcitic and aragonitic land snail shells and bird bones. Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology 378, 91–102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yanes, Y., Gómez-Puche, M., Esquembre-Bebia, M.A., Fernindez-López-de-Pablo, J. (2013b). Younger Dryas — early Holocene transition in southeastern Iberian Peninsula: insights from land snail shell middens. Journal of Quaternary Science 28, 777–788.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yanes, Y., Izeta, A.D., Cattaneo, R., Costa, T., Gordillo, S. (2014). Holocene (~4.5-1.7 cal. kyr BP) paleoenvironmental conditions in central Argentina inferred from entire-shell and intra-shell stable isotope composition of terrestrial gastropods. The Holocene 24, 1193–1205.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yapp, C.J. (1979). Oxygen and carbon isotope measurements of land snail shell carbonates. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 43, 629–635.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zanchetta, G., Leone, G., Fallick, A.E., Bonadonna, F.P. (2005). Oxygen isotope composition of living land snail shells: data from Italy. Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology 223, 20–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zang, N., Yamada, K., Suzuki, N., Yoshida, N. (2014). Factors controlling shell carbon isotopic composition of land snail Acusta despecta sieboldiana estimated from lab culturing experiment. Biogeosciences 11, 6555–6590.Google Scholar