% pubman genre = article
@article{item_3506259,
title = {{Tooth enamel nitrogen isotope composition records trophic position: A tool for reconstructing food webs}},
author = {Leichliter, Jennifer N. and L{\"u}decke, Tina and Foreman, Alan D. and Bourgon, Nicolas and Duprey, Nicolas N. and Vonhof, Hubert and Souksavatdy, Viengkeo and Bacon, Anne-Marie and Sigman, Daniel M. and T{\"u}tken, Thomas and Mart{\'\i}nez-Garc{\'\i}a, Alfredo},
language = {eng},
issn = {2399-3642},
doi = {10.1038/s42003-023-04744-y},
publisher = {Nature},
year = {2023},
abstract = {{Nitrogen isotopes are widely used to study the trophic position of animals in modern food webs; however, their application in the fossil record is severely limited by degradation of organic material during fossilization. In this study, we show that the nitrogen isotope composition of organic matter preserved in mammalian tooth enamel ($\delta$15Nenamel) records diet and trophic position. The $\delta$15Nenamel of modern African mammals shows a 3.7{\textperthousand} increase between herbivores and carnivores as expected from trophic enrichment, and there is a strong positive correlation between $\delta$15Nenamel and $\delta$15Nbone-collagen values from the same individuals. Additionally, $\delta$15Nenamel values of Late Pleistocene fossil teeth preserve diet and trophic level information, despite complete diagenetic loss of collagen in the same specimens. We demonstrate that $\delta$15Nenamel represents a powerful geochemical proxy for diet that is applicable to fossils and can help delineate major dietary transitions in ancient vertebrate lineages. {\copyright} 2023. The Author(s).}},
journal = {{Communications Biology}},
volume = {6},
eid = {373},
}