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Isotope concentrations in different mayfly life stages

Metadata Updated: July 6, 2024

This release is for data on Zinc concentrations and isotopic signatures of an aquatic insect (mayfly, Baetis tricaudatus). Mayflies were exposed to an aqueous zinc concentration gradient in a laboratory experiment. Zinc concentrations were measured in water, algae (mayfly food), and different mayfly lifestages. Natural abundances of carbon and nitrogen isotopes were also measured in different life stages. This data set includes on Zinc data. Isotope data are provided in a separate file. The abstract for a journal article explaining the results of the experiment follows below: Insect metamorphosis often results in substantial chemical changes that can fractionate isotopes and alter contaminant concentrations. We exposed larval mayflies (Baetis tricaudatus) to an aqueous zinc gradient (3-340 µg Zn/l) and measured the change in zinc tissue concentrations at different stages of metamorphosis. We also measured changes in stable isotopes (δ15N and δ13C) in unexposed B. tricaudatus. Zinc concentrations in larvae were positively related to aqueous zinc, increasing 9-fold across the exposure gradient. Zinc concentrations in adults were also positively related to aqueous concentrations, but were 7-fold lower than larvae. However, this relationship varied according to adult substage (subimago vs imago) and sex. Tissue concentrations in female imagoes were not related to exposure concentrations, but the converse was true for all other stage by sex combinations. Metamorphosis also altered isotopic ratios, increasing δ15N, but not δ13C. Thus, the main effects of metamorphosis on insect chemistry were large declines in zinc concentrations coupled with enriched δ15N signatures. For zinc, this change is largely consistent across the aqueous exposure gradient. However, the differences among sexes and stages suggest that caution is warranted when using isotopes or metal concentrations measured in one insect stage (e.g., larvae) to assess risk to wildlife that feed on subsequent life stages (e.g., adults).

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

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Dates

Metadata Created Date June 1, 2023
Metadata Updated Date July 6, 2024

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI EDI

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date June 1, 2023
Metadata Updated Date July 6, 2024
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer
@Id http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/1c1b89033c28f11f20979b93e7e27d21
Identifier USGS:58226affe4b0862c4bff5b6d
Data Last Modified 20200820
Category geospatial
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 010:12
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Metadata Catalog ID https://datainventory.doi.gov/data.json
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Harvest Object Id 3a81b92a-98cf-4a0a-9405-34c1ea2d0187
Harvest Source Id 52bfcc16-6e15-478f-809a-b1bc76f1aeda
Harvest Source Title DOI EDI
Metadata Type geospatial
Old Spatial -180.0,90.0,180.0,-90.0
Publisher Hierarchy White House > U.S. Department of the Interior > U.S. Geological Survey
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash b9926477f3238bd49b203c7e0769deef2c2adb8abb8e849a8d741619c0f68b50
Source Schema Version 1.1
Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": -180.0, 90.0, -180.0, -90.0, 180.0, -90.0, 180.0, 90.0, -180.0, 90.0}

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