Shorebird Egg Isotope Data for Modeling Nutrient Allocation Strategies

Environment and Climate Change Canada conducted a feeding trial with captive shorebirds to measure carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) isotope discrimination in eggs and tissues. The dataset likely contains isotope values for whole food, food constituents, egg components, and somatic tissues, used to calculate tissue-diet fractionation values (TDFs). This research, last updated in April 2026, provides new insights into avian nutrition and reproduction to better understand carry-over effects in migratory species.

Use Cases

• Modeling endogenous versus exogenous nutrient contributions to eggs based on stable isotope mixing models.
• Calculating species-specific tissue-diet fractionation values (TDFs) for birds' eggs.
• Analyzing seasonal changes in nutrient allocation strategies during the egg-laying period.
• Comparing isotopic discrimination in small-bodied birds with values from other species.

Strengths

• Data originates from a controlled feeding trial conducted by a national environmental agency (Environment and Climate Change Canada).
• Includes measurements from multiple sample types: whole food, food constituents, egg components, and somatic tissues.
• Analysis employs Bayesian stable isotope mixing models for inference.
• License is OGL-CA-2.0, facilitating open use.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data is based on a captive model study, which may not fully reflect conditions in wild populations.

Provenance

Source

Environment and Climate Change Canada

Collection Method

Feeding trial with captive shorebirds and isotopic analysis.

Time Range

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Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-22 15:02:49.048972; freshness should be verified.

Geography

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