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A new approach to the solution of the linear mixing model for a single isotope Application to the case of an 

opportunistic predator

Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis reveals seasonal variation in the diet of leopard seals

BIOMARKERS - dietary analysis to reconstruct diet

STABLE ISOTOPE ANALYSIS

FATTY ACID ANALYSIS

Vertical fatty acid composition in the blubber of leopard seals and the implications for dietary analysis

SCAT-ANALYSIS FOR MARINE MAMMALS

 

For marine mammals, a different approach, 6-D analysis of hairs found in scats using Mahalanobis distances, was more effective at discriminating between potential mammalian prey species compared with traditional scat-analysis approaches used for terrestrial mammals.

 

Identification of hairs found in leopard seal (Hydrurga leptonyx) scats

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FORAGING ECOLOGY

BACK TO

FORAGING ECOLOGY

Drawings by Alicia Guerrero

Influence of biological and ecological factors on hematological values in wild Little Penguins, Eudyptula minor

Trace element analysis in the serum and hair of Antarctic leopard seal, Hydrurga leptonyx, and Weddell seal, Leptonychotes weddellii

Serum proteins in the leopard seal, Hydrurga leptonyx, in Prydz Bay, Eastern Antarctica and the coast of NSW, Australia

SERUM PROTEIN & HEMATOLOGY

 

Serum protein levels, identified by electrophoresis, correlated with subclinical disease and physiological variation in leopard seals.

HEAVY METALS

Biological markers (biomarkers) are invaluable and widely adopted in ecology, archaeology and anthropology. Serially sampling biomarkers along continuously-growing inert tissue, such as vibrissae, hair, nail, horn or baleen is an ideal method to capture changes in an individual’s diet, environment, climate, heath and stress. In species where metabolically-inert tissue grows in a progressive fashion the ability to account for time-specific information refines our ability to interpret biomarker data.

 

Drawing by Alicia Guerrero

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