The oxygen isotope composition of mammalian enamel carbonate from Morea Estate, South Africa

Stable carbon isotope analysis is now an established tool for investigating the diets of fossil taxa, but carbon isotopes provide us with limited info rmation about an animal's ecology. Recent research suggests that mammalian oxygen isotope compositions might also prove profitable sources of ecologic al information. Lf we are to exploit this resource, however, we must improv e our nascent understanding of oxygen isotope compositions within modern fo odwebs. To this end, we have analyzed the oxygen and carbon isotope composi tions of nine ecologically diverse, sympatric taxa from Morea Estate, Mpuma langa Province, South Africa. These data show that the Morea Estate faunivo res are depleted in O-18 compared to herbivores, and among the herbivores, frequent drinkers are relatively depleted in O-18. While more research is n eeded to address the mechanisms for and universality of these patterns, the se results show oxygen isotope analysis to be a promising avenue of paleoec ological research.