Dear colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the recent publication of the following paper on
delphinds & isotopes. It has been made available online in advance via the following link:

http://journals.cambridge.org/repo_A84z2Zrx

Botta S, Hohn AA, Macko SA, Secchi ER. 2011. Isotopic variation in delphinids from the subtropical western South Atlantic. JMBA. doi:10.1017/S0025315411000610

A dual stable isotope approach (d13C and d15N) was used to investigate inter- and intra-specific variations in feeding ecology and
habitat use of 7 delphinids from coastal/estuarine, continental shelf and offshore marine environments from southern Brazil:
Tursiops sp., Orcinus orca, Stenella frontalis, Steno bredanensis, Delphinus delphis, Pseudorca crassidens and Lagenodelphis
hosei. Teeth from 50 specimens acquired from stranded animals were analysed in this study. Tursiops sp. and O. orca are the
most coastal species, and had the highest d13C values followed by the continental shelf species S. frontalis, S. bredanensis and
D. delphis. Lagenodelphis hosei showed the lowest d13C value, demonstrating its typical offshore habitat. One group of P. crassidens
had the lowest d15N values, indicating their low trophic level feeding habit while two specimens of the same species showed the
highestmean nitrogen isotope value. This first study on stable isotope values of delphinids from southern Brazil provides substantial
new information about the trophic ecology, habitat use and feeding environments of these animals.

Cheers
Silvina Botta (silbotta@yahoo.com)