The influence of diet on the distribution of nitrogen isotopes in animals was investigated by analyzing animals grown in the laboratory on diets of constant nitrogen isotopic composition. 
The isotopic composition of the nitrogen in an animal reflects the nitrogen isotopic composition of its diet. The δ^(15)N values of the whole bodies of animals are usually more positive than those of their diets. Different individuals of a species raised on the same diet can have significantly different δ^(15)N values. The variability of the relationship between the δ^(15)N values of animals and their diets is greater for different species raised on the same diet than for the same species raised on different diets. Different tissues of mice are also enriched in ^(15)N relative to the diet, with the difference between the δ^(15)N values of a tissue and the diet depending on both the kind of tissue and the diet involved. The δ^(15)N values of collagen and chitin, biochemical components that are often preserved in fossil animal remains, are also related to the δ^(15)N value of the diet. 
The dependence of the δ^(15)N values of whole animals and their tissues and biochemical components on the δ^(15)N value of diet indicates that the isotopic composition of animal nitrogen can be used to obtain information about an animal's diet if its potential food sources had different δ^(15)N values. The nitrogen isotopic method of dietary analysis probably can be used to estimate the relative use of legumes vs non-legumes or of aquatic vs terrestrial organisms as food sources for extant and fossil animals. However, the method probably will not be applicable in those modern ecosystems in which the use of chemical fertilizers has influenced the distribution of nitrogen isotopes in food sources. 
The isotopic method of dietary analysis was used to reconstruct changes in the diet of the human population that occupied the Tehuacan Valley of Mexico over a 7000 yr span. Variations in the δ^(15)C and δ^(15)N values of bone collagen suggest that C_4 and/or CAM plants (presumably mostly corn) and legumes (presumably mostly beans) were introduced into the diet much earlier than suggested by conventional archaeological analysis.

Influence of Diet On the Distribtion of Nitrogen Isotopes in Animals

Fish bone chemistry and ultrastructure: implications for taphonomy and stable isotope analysis

Hunter–gatherer foraging ranges, migrations, and travel in the middle Holocene Baikal region of Siberia: Insights from carbon and nitrogen stable isotope signatures

Deer population control is important in wildlife management, because overabundance of deer is a problem worldwide. For practical deer population control, deer population dynamics and the factors that influence them need to be evaluated in low-cost and time-efficient ways. However, in traditional methods of estimation, such as cohort analysis, large numbers of deer need to be caught for many years, and the ages of the deer must be determined. We estimated deer population dynamics by using a Bayesian state-space model with multiple deer abundance indices (seen deer per unit effort, pellet group count, and block count) and numbers of deer hunted and culled in Yamanashi Prefecture, central Japan. In the state process of our state-space model, latent deer abundance at year t in location m (Dt,m), with m being each cell of a grid mesh covering Yamanashi Prefecture, was assumed to decrease annually through hunting and culling, to increase with the population growth rate of each mesh (rm; which was determined from the percentages of forest, evergreen forest, and artificial grassland), and to fluctuate stochastically. In the observation process, Dt,m was assumed to be correlated with the deer abundance indices and a Gaussian white noise in the deer abundance indices. The estimated Dt,m was correlated with each deer abundance index, but the correlation coefficient was the greatest for pellet group density. The percentage of hunted and culled deer needed to reach 30% to reduce the annual growth rate (Dt,m/Dt−1,m). Increasing the percentage of artificial grassland increased rm. Our results showed that 1) deer abundance could be estimated by using only deer abundance indices in addition to population growth rate and the percentage of hunted and culled deer; and 2) preventing the intrusion of deer onto artificial grassland and intensive culling on artificial grassland were important to decrease deer abundance. © 2013 The Wildlife Society.

Estimation of deer population dynamics using a bayesian state‐space model with multiple abundance indices

Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses of human and animal tissues have become an important means of studying both anthropogenic and natural food webs in aquatic ecosystems. Within the rapidly expanding field of human and animal paleodietary analyses, archaeologists routinely incorporate isotopic data from fish, birds, and aquatic mammals into their interpretations of ancient freshwater resources use; however, these studies rarely consider the complex and dynamic nature of the carbon and nitrogen cycles that give structure to nutrient regimes and their isotopic compositions in freshwater ecosystems. This review outlines two thematic areas in which this surge in stable isotope applications to the study of ancient human societies could be enhanced by incorporating concepts from limnology, ecology, and biology. First, building on studies conducted in modern ecosystems, this paper outlines key aspects of the stable isotope ecology of freshwater environments, highlighting the importance of considering physical and biological processes associated with ancient biogeochemical cycles when conducting human paleodietary reconstructions. Second, this paper discusses areas where isotopic analyses of archaeological freshwater animal remains could contribute to broader research fields including climate change and cultural eutrophication research, human impacts on long-term food web dynamics and animal behaviour, and by providing novel approaches to reconstructing ancient fish management practices.

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Complexities of Stable Carbon and Nitrogen Isotope Biogeochemistry in Ancient Freshwater Ecosystems: Implications for the Study of Past Subsistence and Environmental Change

http://repository.kulib.kyoto-u.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/2433/85227/1/j.jas.2009.06.013.pdf

A strontium isotope analysis on the relationship between ritual tooth ablation and migration among the Jomon people in Japan

. We compared the distribution patterns of five mammals in the Jomon period (12,000– 2,400 years before present time), middle Edo period (1730s), and the present (ca. 1978–2000) using three existing databases. Cervus nippon was widely distributed from Hokkaido to Kyushu during the Jomon and Edo, but absent from most of northern Honshu in the present age. Sus scrofa was widely distributed from southern Hokkaido to the Ryukyu Islands in the Jomon, but absent from Hokkaido in the 1730s and from northern Honshu in the present age. Macaca fuscata was distributed from the northern-most region of Honshu to Kyushu in the Jomon and Edo periods, but diminished in northern Honshu and exhibits a fragmented distribution in the present age. Ursus arctos and/or U. thibetanus were distributed from Hokkaido to Kyushu in the Jomon and 1730s, but greatly diminished in Kyushu in the present age. The distribution patterns of these five mammals changed little from the Jomon to the Edo periods, but were greatly diminish...

https://bioone.org/journals/mammal-study/volume-35/issue-3/041.035.0304/Distribution-Patterns-of-Five-Mammals-in-the-Jomon-Period-Middle/10.3106/041.035.0304.pdf

Distribution Patterns of Five Mammals in the Jomon Period, Middle Edo Period, and the Present, in the Japanese Archipelago

The globalization of food production and distribution has homogenized human dietary patterns irrespective of geography, but it is uncertain how far this homogenization has progressed. This study investigated the carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios in the scalp hair of 1305 contemporary Japanese and found values of −19.4 ± 0.6‰ and 9.4 ± 0.6‰ (mean ± SD), respectively. Within Japan, the inter-regional differences for both isotope ratios was less than 1‰, which indicates low dietary heterogeneity among prefectural divisions. The carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios of the hair showed a significant correlation with the results of questionnaires on self-reported dietary habits. The carbon isotope ratios from Japan were lower than those in samples from the USA but higher than those in samples from Europe. These differences stem from the varying dietary proportions of food products originally derived from C3 and C4 plants. The dietary variation of Japan is as small as those of Europe and USA and smaller than those of some Asian countries. These results indicate that dietary homogeneity has progressed in Japan, which may indicate the influence from the spread of the Western-style diet and food globalization, although dietary heterogeneity among countries is still preserved.

/pdf/homogeneous-diet-of-contemporary-japanese-inferred-from-o3e3cs6dsr.pdf

Homogeneous diet of contemporary Japanese inferred from stable isotope ratios of hair.

広島湾のクロダイについて筋肉成分の季節変化を調べた。脂質含量は秋季に上昇したが，年平均で 0.34% と低く，最低値は 3 月の 0.2%，最高は 10 月の 0.6% であった。旨みや甘味に関与する遊離アミノ酸は本種が美味な秋季から春先まで一時的な増加傾向を示したことから，呈味に影響を及ぼしていると考えられた。雑食性であるクロダイの安定同位体比の平均値は，δ13C で−15.9‰，δ15N で 16.6‰ だった。δ15N，タウリン，高度不飽和脂肪酸が季節変化を示したことから，本種の食生態が季節によって変化している可能性が示唆された。

Seasonal variations in dorsal muscle constituents of wild black sea bream Acanthopagrus schlegelii in Hiroshima Bay, Western Japan

Jomon people who inhabited the Japanese Archipelago (Figure 1-A) between ca. 10,500 and 500 BC, exploited various marine resources, as evidenced by the many kinds of fishes and shells excavated fro...

Reconstruction of Ancient Trade Routes in the Japanese Archipelago Using Carbon and Nitrogen Stable Isotope Analysis: Identification of the Stock Origins of Marine Fish Found at the Inland Yokkaichi Site, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan

Eriko Ishimaru

Papers

A strontium isotope analysis on the relationship between ritual tooth ablation and migration among the Jomon people in Japan

Distribution Patterns of Five Mammals in the Jomon Period, Middle Edo Period, and the Present, in the Japanese Archipelago

Homogeneous diet of contemporary Japanese inferred from stable isotope ratios of hair.

Seasonal variations in dorsal muscle constituents of wild black sea bream Acanthopagrus schlegelii in Hiroshima Bay, Western Japan

Reconstruction of Ancient Trade Routes in the Japanese Archipelago Using Carbon and Nitrogen Stable Isotope Analysis: Identification of the Stock Origins of Marine Fish Found at the Inland Yokkaichi Site, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan