Dietary preferences and collagen to collagen prey-predator trophic discrimination factors ( Δ 13 C, Δ 15 N) in late Pleistocene cave hyena

作者：Magdalena Krajcarz, Magdalena Krajcarz, Chris Baumann, Hervé Bocherens, Samantha Presslee, Maciej T. Krajcarz, Maciej T. Krajcarz · 发表于：Quaternary Research · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1017/qua.2024.43 · 被引用次数：2 · 研究领域：Isotope Analysis in Ecology、Evolution and Paleontology Studies、Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology

Abstract The spotted hyena ( Crocuta crocuta ) was an important large carnivore of Pleistocene ecosystems in Africa and Eurasia. Like its modern relatives, this obligate carnivore was adapted to crush and digest bones of its prey and absorb organic matter from bones more efficiently than any other carnivore. This difference in the nutrient resource use between hyenas and most other carnivores led to differences in the isotope flux and variation in the carbon and nitrogen isotopic composition. In our paper, we assess the prey-to-hyena collagen-to-collagen Δ 13 C and Δ 15 N trophic discrimination factor (TDF), a key parameter needed in mixing models used for quantitative reconstruction of diet. We analyzed a Pleistocene hyena den bone accumulation in Perspektywiczna Cave (Poland), with a preserved assemblage of remains containing both hyenas and a wide spectrum of their prey represented by digested bones. With the use of proteomics-based taxonomic identification (ZooMS), we estimated the proportion of prey species in the hyena diet. The modeled collagen-to-collagen TDFs are around +1.6‰ to +1.7‰ for δ 13 C and around +3.4‰ to +3.5‰ for δ 15 N. This study provides new data on the dietary habits of this large carnivore and allows for a more accurate use of isotopic signals in modeling past hyena diets.