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Nitrogen and the trophic level effect
Nitrogen stable isotope
ratios are enriched from diet to organism approximately 3‰ per trophic
“step” or trophic level (see figure, below). The enrichment is
associated with fractionation events during metabolism. Despite this
fractionation, the relationship between nitrogen in diet and consumer
tissue can also be used to trace the flow of organic matter through a
food web.
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