Isotope Ratio Studies of Marine Mammals in Prince William Sound

Stable isotope ratios are natural tracers of carbon and nitrogen transfers through food webs. Through a mix of captive animal studies, comparison of isotope ratios in archived and current marine mammal tissues and their potential prey species in PWS, insight into environmental changes causing the decline of harbor seals may be possible. This project will supply the isotope ratio determinations for other projects using this technique in the PWS ecosystem. Over the 12 months of FY 96 funding, about 10,000 samples in these related projects will be analyzed. (This project was formerly numbered 95320I2)