Biomedical subjects

Donald L Phillips

Publications and source records attributed to Donald L Phillips.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

CO2 and N-fertilization effects on fine-root length, production, and mortality: a 4-year ponderosa pine study.

We conducted a 4-year study of juvenile Pinus ponderosa fine root (< or =2 mm) responses to atmospheric CO2 and N-fertilization. Seedlings were grown in open-top chambers at three CO2 levels (ambient, ambient+175 mumol/mol, ambient+350 mumol/mol) and three N-fertilization levels (0, 10, 20 g m(-2) year(-1)). Length and width of individual roots were measured from minirhizotron video images bimonthly over 4 years starting when the seedlings were 1.5 years old. Neither CO2 nor N-fertilization treatments affected the seasonal patterns of root production or mortality. Yearly values of fine-root length standing crop (m m(-2)), production (m m(-2) year(-1)), and mortality (m m(-2) year(-1)) were consistently higher in elevated CO2 treatments throughout the study, except for mortality in the first year; however, the only statistically significant CO2 effects were in the fine-root length standing crop (m m(-2)) in the second and third years, and production and mortality (m m(-2) year(-1)) in the third year. Higher mortality (m m(-2) year(-1)) in elevated CO2 was due to greater standing crop rather than shorter life span, as fine roots lived longer in elevated CO2. No significant N effects were noted for annual cumulative production, cumulative mortality, or mean standing crop. N availability did not significantly affect responses of fine-root standing crop, production, or mortality to elevated CO2. Multi-year studies at all life stages of trees are important to characterize belowground responses to factors such as atmospheric CO2 and N-fertilization. This study showed the potential for juvenile ponderosa pine to increase fine-root C pools and C fluxes through root mortality in response to elevated CO2.

Atmosphere↗

PubMed2005

Estimating the timing of diet shifts using stable isotopes.

Stable isotope analysis has become an important tool in studies of trophic food webs and animal feeding patterns. When animals undergo rapid dietary shifts due to migration, metamorphosis, or other reasons, the isotopic composition of their tissues begins changing to reflect that of their diet. This can occur both as a result of growth and metabolic turnover of existing tissue. Tissues vary in their rate of isotopic change, with high turnover tissues such as liver changing rapidly, while relatively low turnover tissues such as bone change more slowly. A model is outlined that uses the varying isotopic changes in multiple tissues as a chemical clock to estimate the time elapsed since a diet shift, and the magnitude of the isotopic shift in the tissues at the new equilibrium. This model was tested using published results from controlled feeding experiments on a bird and a mammal. For the model to be effective, the tissues utilized must be sufficiently different in their turnover rates. The model did a reasonable job of estimating elapsed time and equilibrial isotopic changes, except when the time since the diet shift was less than a small fraction of the half-life of the slowest turnover tissue or greater than 5-10 half-lives of the slowest turnover tissue. Sensitivity analyses independently corroborated that model estimates became unstable at extremely short and long sample times due to the effect of random measurement error. Subject to some limitations, the model may be useful for studying the movement and behavior of animals changing isotopic environments, such as anadromous fish, migratory birds, animals undergoing metamorphosis, or animals changing diets because of shifts in food abundance or competitive interactions.

Animals↗

PubMed2005

Combining sources in stable isotope mixing models: alternative methods.

Stable isotope mixing models are often used to quantify source contributions to a mixture. Examples include pollution source identification; trophic web studies; analysis of water sources for soils, plants; or water bodies, and many others. A common problem is having too many sources to allow a unique solution. We discuss two alternative procedures for addressing this problem. One option is a priori to combine sources with similar signatures so the number of sources is small enough to provide a unique solution. Aggregation should be considered only when isotopic signatures of clustered sources are not significantly different, and sources are related so the combined source group has some functional significance. For example, in a food web analysis, lumping several species within a trophic guild allows more interpretable results than lumping disparate food sources, even if they have similar isotopic signatures. One result of combining mixing model sources is increased uncertainty of the combined end-member isotopic signatures and consequently the source contribution estimates; this effect can be quantified using the IsoError model (http://www.epa.gov/wed/pages/models/isotopes/isoerror1_04.htm). As an alternative to lumping sources before a mixing analysis, the IsoSource mixing model (http://www.epa.gov/wed/pages/models/isosource/isosource.htm) can be used to find all feasible solutions of source contributions consistent with isotopic mass balance. While ranges of feasible contributions for each individual source can often be quite broad, contributions from functionally related groups of sources can be summed a posteriori, producing a range of solutions for the aggregate source that may be considerably narrower. A paleo-human dietary analysis example illustrates this method, which involves a terrestrial meat food source, a combination of three terrestrial plant foods, and a combination of three marine foods. In this case, a posteriori aggregation of sources allowed strong conclusions about temporal shifts in marine versus terrestrial diets that would not have otherwise been discerned.

Algorithms↗

PubMed2003

Source partitioning using stable isotopes: coping with too many sources.

Stable isotopes are increasingly being used as tracers in environmental studies. One application is to use isotopic ratios to quantitatively determine the proportional contribution of several sources to a mixture, such as the proportion of various pollution sources in a waste stream. In general, the proportional contributions of n+1 different sources can be uniquely determined by the use of n different isotope system tracers (e.g., delta13C, delta15N, delta18O) with linear mixing models based on mass balance equations. Often, however, the number of potential sources exceeds n+1, which prevents finding a unique solution of source proportions. What can be done in these situations? While no definitive solution exists, we propose a method that is informative in determining bounds for the contributions of each source. In this method, all possible combinations of each source contribution (0-100%) are examined in small increments (e.g., 1%). Combinations that sum to the observed mixture isotopic signatures within a small tolerance (e.g., +/-0.1 per thousand ) are considered to be feasible solutions, from which the frequency and range of potential source contributions can be determined. To avoid misrepresenting the results, users of this procedure should report the distribution of feasible solutions rather than focusing on a single value such as the mean. We applied this method to a variety of environmental studies in which stable isotope tracers were used to quantify the relative magnitude of multiple sources, including (1) plant water use, (2) geochemistry, (3) air pollution, and (4) dietary analysis. This method gives the range of isotopically determined source contributions; additional non-isotopic constraints specific to each study may be used to further restrict this range. The breadth of the isotopically determined ranges depends on the geometry of the mixing space and the similarity of source and mixture isotopic signatures. A sensitivity analysis indicated that the estimated ranges vary only modestly with different choices of source increment and mass balance tolerance parameter values. A computer program (IsoSource) to perform these calculations for user-specified data is available at http://www.epa.gov/wed/pages/models.htm.

Carbon Isotopes↗