Verification of annual growth increments in Arctica islandica L. from the North Sea by means of oxygen and carbon isotopes

https://doi.org/10.1016/0077-7579(94)90054-XGet rights and content

Abstract

14C analysis of material from the shells of Arctica islandica supports the hypothesis that the clear and definite bandings of these shells are annual rings. The pulse of 14C around 1960, resulting from atmospheric nuclear-bomb testing was recorded in the shell at a location in concurrence with that expected from band counting. The observed cyclic variation in stable isotopes of oxygen and carbon coincided with growth bands. This variation, at least for 18O, agreed with annual temperature variations and suggests that growth bands are a reflection of seasonally determined differential growth rates. The longevity of individuals of this species, coupled with variations in band width, may provide important information regarding growth and productivity, as well as a record of past environmental conditions.

References (58)

  • W.E. Arntz

    A contribution to the feeding ecology of juvenile cod Gadus morhua (L.) in the western Baltic

    Rapp. P.-v. Réun. Cons. int. Explor. Mer

    (1974)
  • G.A. Becker et al.

    North Sea surface temperature means 1981 to 1990

    ICES CM 1993/C:47

    (1993)
  • G. Becker et al.

    Recent high salinity in the English Channel/southern North Sea

    ICES hydrography committee. C.M. 1992/C6

    (1992)
  • R. Berger

    Artificial radiocarbon in the troposphere

  • W.S. Broecker et al.

    The distribution of bomb radiocarbon in the ocean

    J. Geophys. Res.

    (1985)
  • F. Creutzberg

    A persistent chlorophyll a maximum coinciding with an enriched benthic zone

  • F. Creutzberg et al.

    Distribution and density of the benthic fauna in the southern North Sea in relation to bottom characteristics and hydrographic conditions

    Rapp. P.-v. Réun. Cons. int. Explor. Mer

    (1984)
  • J.M. Davies et al.

    Supply of organic matter to the sediment in the northern North Sea during a spring phytoplankton bloom

    Mar. Biol.

    (1984)
  • S. Epstein et al.

    Revised carbonate-water isotopic temperature scale

    Bull. geol. Soc. Am.

    (1953)
  • H. Erlenkeuser

    14C and 13C isotope concentration in modern marine mussels from sedimentary habitats

    Naturwissenschaften

    (1976)
  • B. Fry et al.

    13C measurements as indicators of carbon flow in marine and freshwater ecosystems

  • E. Goedecke et al.

    Monatskarten des Salzgehaltes de Nordsee dargestellt für verschiedene Tiefenhorizonten

    Ergänzungs. Dt. Hydrogr. Z. Reihe B(4°)

    (1967)
  • G.W. Graf et al.

    The importance of the spring phytoplankton bloom for the benthic system of Kiel Bight

    Rapp. P.-v. Réun. Cons. int. Explor. Mer

    (1984)
  • D.S. Jones

    Annual cycle of shell-growth increment formation in two continental shelf bivalves and its paleologic significance

    Paleobiology

    (1980)
  • J.M. Kalish

    13C and 18O isotopic disequilibria in fish otoliths: metabolic and kinetic effects

    Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

    (1991)
  • D.E. Krantz et al.

    Growth rates of the sea scallop Placopecten magellanicus determined from the 18O/16O record in shell calcite

    Biol. Bull.

    (1984)
  • H. Li et al.

    Cluster analysis as a method to discriminate water masses in shelf seas

    ICES Hydrography committee. C.M. 1989/C3

    (1989)
  • J.A. Lindley et al.

    Doliolids in the German Bight in 1989: Evidence for exceptional inflow into the North Sea

    J. mar. biol. Ass. U.K.

    (1990)
  • P.M. Lovén

    Undersökningar över Öresund. Untersuchungen aus dem Öresund XVI. Beiträge zur Kenntnis der Cyprina islandica L. im Öresund

  • Cited by (83)

    • Insight into shell growth dynamics of Mactromeris polynyma in the St. Lawrence Estuary using sclerochemistry

      2021, Marine Chemistry
      Citation Excerpt :

      Such methods may be used on M. polynyma to determine annual growth lines and to test its use as an environmental archive. Several studies have highlighted the potential of using the oxygen stable isotopic ratio (δ18O) and the strontium-to‑calcium ratio (Sr/Ca) as tools to estimate and validate age by identifying annual growth lines of different bivalve species (e.g., Cardoso et al., 2013a, 2013b; Foster et al., 2009; Gurney et al., 2005; Witbaard et al., 1994). No consensus has yet been reached on the incorporation dependency of Sr into bivalve shells.

    • Impact of nuclear fuel reprocessing on the temporal evolution of marine radiocarbon

      2020, Science of the Total Environment
      Citation Excerpt :

      A possible explanation is that this cockle lived when the bomb pulse reached its peak (mid 1960s, F14C ca. 1.9 in Fig. 1a) and covered more of the maximum than the rest of the animals from the later Balgzand collections. The cockle shell F14C is about 0.4 higher than for contemporaneous 14C concentrations recorded in a shell of A. islandica collected from the German Bight in the southeastern North Sea (Weidman, 1995; Witbaard et al., 1994). Such a finding is compatible with an attenuated bomb pulse for the German Bight, as the A. islandica was living at greater depth than the intertidal cockle and permanently covered by a 40 m deep water column.

    View all citing articles on Scopus
    View full text