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Abstract: Stable carbon and oxygen isotope ratios in mammalian tooth enamel are commonly used to understand the diets and environments of modern and fossil animals. Isotope variation during the period of enamel formation can be recovered by intra-tooth microsampling along the direction of growth. However, conventional sampling of the enamel surface provides highly time-averaged records in part due to amelogenesis. We use backscattered electron imaging in the scanning electron microscope (BSE-SEM) to evaluate enamel mineralization in developing teeth from one rodent and two ungulates. Gray levels from BSE-SEM images suggest that the innermost enamel layer, <20μm from the enamel–dentine junction, is highly mineralized early in enamel maturation and therefore may record a less attenuated isotopic signal than other layers. We sampled the right maxillary incisor from a woodrat subjected to an experimentally induced water-switch during the period of tooth development, and demonstrate that secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) can be used to obtain δ18O values with 4–5-μm spots from mammalian tooth enamel. We also demonstrate that SIMS can be used to discretely sample the innermost enamel layer, which is too narrow for conventional microdrilling or laser ablation. An abrupt δ18O switch of 16.0‰ was captured in breath CO2, a proxy for body water, while a laser ablation enamel surface intra-tooth profile of the left incisor captured a δ18O range of 12.1‰. The innermost enamel profile captured a δ18O range of 15.7‰, which approaches the full magnitude of δ18O variation in the input signal. This approach will likely be most beneficial in taxa such as large mammalian herbivores, whose teeth are characterized by less rapid mineralization and therefore greater attenuation of the enamel isotope signal. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Oxygen and hydrogen isotope signatures of animal tissues are strongly correlated with the isotope signature of local precipitation and as a result, isotope signatures of tissues are commonly used to study resource utilization and migration in animals and to reconstruct climate. To better understand the mechanisms behind these correlations, we manipulated the isotope composition of the drinking water and food supplied to captive woodrats to quantify the relationships between drinking water (δ dw), body water (δ bw), and tissue (δ t). Woodrats were fed an isotopically constant food but were supplied with isotopically depleted or enriched water. Some animals were switched between these waters, allowing simultaneous determination of body water turnover, isotope change recorded in teeth and hair, and fractional contributions of atmospheric O2, drinking water, and food to the oxygen and hydrogen budgets of the animals. The half-life of the body water turnover was 3–6days. A mass balance model estimated that drinking water, atmospheric O2, and food were responsible for 56%, 30%, and 15% of the oxygen in the body water, respectively. Drinking water and food were responsible for 71% and 29% of the hydrogen in the body water, respectively. Published generalized models for lab rats and humans accurately estimated δ bw, as did an updated version of a specific model for woodrats. The change in drinking water was clearly recorded in hair and tooth enamel, and multiple-pool and tooth enamel forward models closely predicted these changes in hair and enamel, respectively. Oxygen and hydrogen atoms in the drinking water strongly influence the composition of the body water and tissues such as hair and tooth enamel; however, food and atmospheric O2 also contribute oxygen and/or hydrogen atoms to tissue. Controlled experiments allow researchers to validate models that estimate δ t based on δ dw and so will increase the reliability of estimates of resource utilization and climate reconstruction. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]