The DOI matches its Crossref record; 19 of the 19 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Stable Isotopes in Animal Ecology: The Effect of Ration Size on the Trophic Shift of C and N Isotopes Between Feed and Carcass
Abstract
The feeding ecology of living or extinct animal species is now frequently studied by analysis of stable isotope ratios in small quantities of carcass or remains such as bones or teeth. Although there are numerous papers on these applications in natural systems, the theoretical and experimental basis of this method is weak. In order to evaluate the effect of different feeding levels on the carbon and nitrogen trophic shift, an experiment was carried out in which fish (Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus, initial weight 40.8 g) were fed for 4 weeks at three levels from slightly above maintenance to almost satiation. For each treatment, three fish were reared individually. The isotopic ratios of carbon and nitrogen in feeds and fish carcasses were determined and in the case of carbon this was done separately for lipids and lipid-free matter. The trophic shift was calculated at each feeding level from the delta13C and delta15N ratios of feed and fish. There was a significant trend towards higher values for the trophic shift at higher feeding rates in all fractions analysed. Although further research is required, it can be concluded that the effect of feeding level cannot be ignored when the diet of an animal has to be calculated from the ratios of isotopes in its body.
Overview
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“Carcasses offer opportunities to explore diet using stable isotope analysis on hair, claws, soft tissues, teeth, and bones to reconstruct diet through an individual's life (Focken 2001).”
From Digestive anatomy and diet of free-ranging maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus) (2025) · cites this paper as Focken 2001
Citations
Cites
Influence of diet on the distribution of nitrogen isotopes in animals
DeNiro, M. J., & Epstein, S. (1981) · Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta · doi:10.1016/0016-7037(81)90244-1 · Cited by 6,183
Influence of diet on the distribution of carbon isotopes in animals
DeNiro, M. J., & Epstein, S. (1978) · Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta · doi:10.1016/0016-7037(78)90199-0 · Cited by 4,868
Tieszen, L. L., Boutton, T. W., Tesdahl, K. G., & Slade, N. A. (1983) · Oecologia · doi:10.1007/bf00379558 · Cited by 1,781
Mechanism of Carbon Isotope Fractionation Associated with Lipid Synthesis
DeNiro, M. J., & Epstein, S. (1977) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.327543 · Cited by 1,461
STABLE ISOTOPES IN ANIMAL ECOLOGY: ASSUMPTIONS, CAVEATS, AND A CALL FOR MORE LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS
Gannes, L. Z., O’Brien, D. M., & del Rio, C. M. (1997) · Ecology · doi:10.1890/0012-9658(1997)078[1271:siiaea]2.0.co;2 · Cited by 1,005
Hobson, K. A., Alisauskas, R. T., & Clark, R. G. (1993) · Ornithological Applications · doi:10.2307/1369361 · Cited by 897
Assessing Avian Diets Using Stable Isotopes II: Factors Influencing Diet-Tissue Fractionation
Hobson, K. A., & Clark, R. G. (1992) · Ornithological Applications · doi:10.2307/1368808 · Cited by 861
Kinetic fractionation of stable nitrogen isotopes during amino acid transamination
Macko, S., Estep, M., Engel, M., & Hare, P. (1986) · Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta · doi:10.1016/0016-7037(86)90068-2 · Cited by 445
Focken, U., & Becker, K. (1998) · Oecologia · doi:10.1007/s004420050525 · Cited by 230
Self-citationMelzer, E. W., & Schmidt, H. (1987) · Journal of Biological Chemistry · doi:10.1016/s0021-9258(18)47543-6 · Cited by 208
Research works printed but not linked: 2
- Froese R., 2001, Fish Base
- Santiago C. B., 2001, Energy Metabolism in Animals, 487
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Digestive anatomy and diet of free-ranging maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus)
Silva, B. C., de Oliveira, L. A., Clauss, M., Costa, C. G., de Oliveira Marques Alexandre, L., & Duque-Correa, M. J. (2025) · Mammalian Biology · doi:10.1007/s42991-025-00493-z · Cited by 3
“Carcasses offer opportunities to explore diet using stable isotope analysis on hair, claws, soft tissues, teeth, and bones to reconstruct diet through an individual's life (Focken 2001).”
Metadata
- Authors
- Focken, U.
- Affiliations
- University of Hohenheim (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Focken, U.
- ORCID
- Focken, U.
- Venue
- Isotopes in Environmental and Health Studies
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2001-11
- Volume
- 37
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 199-211
- ISSN
- 1025-6016 (ISSN-L)
- 1477-2639
- OpenAlex
- W2076049544
- Cited by
- 69
- References
- 19
- Citations by year
- 2025: 2 · 2023: 3 · 2021: 2 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 3 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 1 · 2013: 4 · 2012: 4
- FWCI
- 3.52
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Isotopes in Environmental and Health Studies (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- OpenAgrar (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Isotope Analysis in Ecology
- Social Sciences › Archeology › Archaeology and ancient environmental studies
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Aquatic Science › Marine and fisheries research
- Keywords
- stable isotopes, trophic changes, feeding level, Oreochromis niloticus, carbon isotopes, nitrogen isotopes, lipid fractions, diet reconstruction
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Carbon Isotopes, Diet, Environmental Monitoring, Nitrogen Isotopes, Tissue Distribution, Tilapia, Food Chain
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
How to cite
Cite CoChat for the checks on this page, and the paper for its own findings.
- This page
- CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Stable Isotopes in Animal Ecology: The Effect of Ration Size on the Trophic Shift of C and N Isotopes Between Feed and Carcass. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1080/10256010108033296
- The paper
- Focken, U. (2001). Stable Isotopes in Animal Ecology: The Effect of Ration Size on the Trophic Shift of C and N Isotopes Between Feed and Carcass. Isotopes in Environmental and Health Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/10256010108033296
