The development of the isotopic niche, an n-dimensional hypervolume (with n being the number of isotopes) occupied by a population in delta space, has revolutionized the study of animal interactions in wild populations. While the isotopic niche offers a useful means to understand interactions at many ecological resolutions (e.g., individual, population, community, ecosystem), a variety of intrinsic and extrinsic factors drive isotopic variability and influence the ultimate geometry of observed niche dimensions. Here, we provide an updated synthesis to guide the application of bulk stable isotope ratios to study ecological niches. We summarize progress in the application of bulk stable isotope ratios for evaluating niches to synthesize a formal definition of the isotopic niche. We identify six broad categories to describe drivers of isotopic variance introduced by the animal, its environment, and the researcher, and provide recommendations to account for such variations before, during, and after sample collection and data analyses. Our synthesis illustrates the considerations that should be made before employing the isotopic niche to broader ecological contexts, and offers guidance for the use and interpretation of isotopic niche dynamics in future studies.

中文翻译：

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使用整体稳定同位素比率研究动物生态位：最新合成。

同位素生态位的发展，是三角洲空间中一个种群所占据的n维超体积（n为同位素数），彻底改变了野生种群中动物相互作用的研究。尽管同位素生态位提供了一种有用的手段来了解许多生态分辨率（例如，个人，人口，社区，生态系统）之间的相互作用，但各种内在和外在因素驱动同位素变异性并影响观测到的生态位尺寸的最终几何形状。在这里，我们提供了更新的合成方法，以指导整体稳定同位素比率的应用来研究生态位。我们总结了整体稳定同位素比率在评估生态位以合成同位素生态位的正式定义中的应用进展。我们确定了六大类来描述由动物，其环境和研究人员引入的同位素变异的驱动因素，并提供建议以说明样本收集和数据分析之前，之中和之后的这种变异。我们的综合阐述了在将同位素生态位应用到更广泛的生态环境之前应该进行的考虑，并为今后研究中同位素生态位动力学的使用和解释提供了指导。