Food Water Contribution to the Oxygen Isotope Composition of Land Snail Body Water and Its Environmental Implication

Abstract

This is the first study focused on the oxygen isotope composition (δ18O) of laboratory-cultivated land snails. Land snails were raised under various controlled environmental parameters, permitting an evaluation of the effectiveness of the flux balance model developed by Balakrishnan and Yapp (). The slope of body water δ18O values vs. provided water δ18O values, suggest that food water is an important source (19-37%) of land snail body water. However, the flux balance model does not account for this water source. We suggest a revised framework to understand the sources and controlling factors of the land snail body fluid, which should be helpful to future studies on paleo-environment reconstruction using land snail fossils. This investigation also indicates that snails living in non-optimal conditions (e.g. low temperature) can adapt their biological behaviors to the environment, which will in turn affect the δ18O values of both body fluid and shells, giving rise to δ18O values which deviate from those of snails living at optimal temperatures.