USING A MULTI-ISOTOPE APPROACH TO ASSESS ENVIRONMENTAL SPATIAL PATTERNS ON TENERIFE, CANARY ISLANDS

Quantifying spatial heterogeneity in isotope values among biomes is crucial for interpreting ecological differences among extant and extinct organisms, as well as reconstructing paleoclimatological and paleoenvironmental conditions. The island of Tenerife presents an ideal natural laboratory for this approach due to its diverse biomes, high numbers of endemic plants and animals, and relatively well constrained geological, paleontological and archeological history. We use stable sulfur (δ³⁴S), strontium (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr), carbon (δ¹³C), and nitrogen (δ¹⁵N) isotope values to quantify isotopic variability among the five main biomes on the island (coastal scrub, thermophilous deciduous forest, cloud laurel forest, pine forest, and subalpine scrub). We discuss the utility of these four isotopic systems for teasing apart spatial patterns related to factors such as temperature, rainfall, sea spray, bedrock geology, volcanic degassing, and anthropogenic environmental contamination. Our results will provide modern comparative isotopic baseline data for future ecological, paleoecological and paleoclimatological research on the Canary Islands, as well as nearby localities, such as northwestern Africa and other Macaronesian archipelagos.