Ornithogenic soils in Antarctica provide a biological archive of the occupation history and trophic ecology of penguins and other marine species over geological timescales. Hard prey remains and predator tissues, which are well preserved in ornithogenic soils, can act as paleoecological proxies of past environmental conditions. Here we examine ornithogenic soils from an active colony of Pygoscelis spp. penguins on Platter Island in the Danger Islands Archipelago along the northeastern side of the Antarctic Peninsula. We radiocarbon dated penguin tissues from excavated ornithogenic soils and parameterized an age-depth model of penguin occupation history. Hard prey remains were enumerated and recovered Pygoscelis spp. penguin and Antarctic fur seal (Arctocephalus gazella) tissues were analyzed for stable isotopes carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) analysis. The oldest recovered ornithogenic soils at Platter Island date to 502–653 years BP and coincide with the start of a period of increased warming and glacial discharge in the northeastern Antarctic Peninsula. Penguin tissues δ15N values increased between the oldest and youngest dated ornithogenic soils but seal tissues did not. This may indicate that the trophic level of penguins, but not seals, has increased over time, a hypothesis supported by the concurrent increase in the hard prey remains of fish and squid taxa common to penguin diets recovered from ornithogenic soils. Future studies of ornithogenic soils in the Danger Islands Archipelago are warranted to test this hypothesis and assess the potential confounding effects of varying ecosystem isotopic baselines and penguin species composition over time.

中文翻译：

---

硬猎物残骸的全新世晚期变异以及南极洲危险群岛企鹅和海豹组织的稳定同位素值

南极洲的鸟类土壤提供了企鹅和其他海洋物种在地质时间尺度上的占领历史和营养生态的生物档案。坚硬的猎物遗骸和捕食者组织在鸟类土壤中保存完好，可以作为过去环境条件的古生态代理。在这里，我们检查了来自 Pygoscelis spp 活跃菌落的鸟类土壤。南极半岛东北部危险群岛的普拉特岛上的企鹅。我们对来自挖掘出的鸟类土壤的企鹅组织进行放射性碳测年，并参数化了企鹅居住历史的年龄深度模型。对坚硬的猎物遗骸进行了列举并回收了 Pygoscelis spp。对企鹅和南极海狗（Arctocephalusgagella）组织进行了稳定同位素碳（δ13C）和氮（δ15N）分析。普拉特岛最古老的鸟类土壤可以追溯到 502-653 年 BP，恰逢南极半岛东北部变暖和冰川排放增加时期的开始。企鹅组织 δ15N 值在最古老和最年轻的鸟类土壤之间增加，但海豹组织没有。这可能表明企鹅而非海豹的营养水平随着时间的推移而增加，这一假设得到了从鸟类土壤中回收的企鹅饮食中常见的鱼类和鱿鱼类群的硬猎物残骸同时增加的支持。