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Title: IsoBank – Stable isotope ecology in the age of ‘Big Data’

Author
item HAYDEN, BRIEN - University Of New Brunswick
item HARROD, CHRIS - Universidad De Antofagasta
item NEWSOME, SETH - University Of New Mexico
item COOK, JOE - University Of New Mexico
item PAULI, JONATHON - University Of Wisconsin
item Steffan, Shawn
item SILVA, ROGER - University Of New Brunswick

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/28/2017
Publication Date: 7/3/2017
Citation: Hayden, B., Harrod, C., Newsome, S., Cook, J., Pauli, J., Steffan, S.A., Silva, R. 2017. IsoBank – Stable isotope ecology in the age of ‘Big Data’ [abstract]. Fisheries Society of the British Isles. p. 142.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Stable isotopes ratios provide valuable information to fish biologists working in a diverse range of fields: e.g. ecologists, population biologists and fishery managers. Ecologists take advantage of stable isotope ratios to provide information on the diet and migration history of consumers or when assessed across multiple species to characterize food web structure and ecosystem function and to see how these change over time and space. However, most studies using stable isotopes are conducted by independent research groups working in relative isolation, and the resulting data are not available to researchers outside of these groups. IsoBank is the initial result of an international collaboration of isotope ecologists and data managers who are developing a data federation resource for stable isotope scientists. This data-repository, housing stable isotope data from organisms around the globe, represents an entirely novel resource with which to portray local, regional and global patterns in food web structure. As data are geo-archived they can be related to land use, temperature or productivity gradients providing a novel insight into the factors determining spatial and temporal patterns in biodiversity, biological responses to climate change and ecosystem function at a global scale. Using data drawn from IsoBank we present a comparison of sexual variation in isotope ratios throughout the animal kingdom as a ‘proof of concept’ case study. IsoBank can be found at www.isobank.org and on Twitter @iso_bank.