Saltmarshes are tremendously important culturally and ecologically because they can provide abundant nutrient-rich fodder for grazing livestock, with relatively little resource investment. They also perform critical ecological services, including detoxifying water and stabilizing coastlines. For these reasons, methods for investigating the nature and extent of past saltmarsh use have significant potential to provide new insights into patterns in coastal adaptations among past agricultural societies as well as paleoenvironmental change. Stable nitrogen isotope (δ¹⁵N) analyses of animal bone collagen have been used to investigate ancient saltmarsh use based on the idea that plants growing in saline and/or coastal regions can have higher δ¹⁵N values. However, interpretation of δ¹⁵N evidence for saltmarsh use can be challenging because variation in terrestrial nitrogen sources and cycling can result in similarly elevated in δ¹⁵N values in animals that did not feed in saltmarshes. Ecological studies show that stable carbon (δ¹³C) and sulfur (δ³⁴S) isotope analyses are well suited for investigating saltmarsh use because key species (particularly those in the genus Spartina) that dominate these ecosystems in many areas of the world are C₄ plants capable of incorporating sulfuide-derived, ³⁴S-depleted sulfur. We investigate the utility of δ¹³C, δ³⁴S, and δ¹⁵N for tracking saltmarsh use in archaeological herbivores (n = 80) from seventeenth-to-eighteenth-century Acadian settlements in Canada, which were renowned for their agricultural use of saltmarsh ecosystems. Results show extreme variation in δ¹³C and δ³⁴S consistent with feeding along C₃-to-C₄ and sulfate-to-sulfide-derived sulfur continuums. Significant correlations between δ¹³C and δ³⁴S suggests that variation in these isotopic compositions reflects the relative importance of Spartina in past Acadian animal husbandry. These findings indicate that, even in areas where other ¹³C-eniched food sources are available (e.g., seaweeds, maize), combined δ¹³C and δ³⁴S analyses should be able to identify Spartina use in coastal regions. A strong negative correlation was also found between δ³⁴S and δ¹⁵N, suggesting that processes driving coastal sulfur and nitrogen cycles in the region are coupled (independently of Spartina consumption) and provide new insights into the mechanism behind ¹⁵N enrichment observed in saltmarsh plants.

盐沼在文化和生态上具有极其重要的意义，因为它们可以以相对较少的资源投入为牲畜放牧提供丰富的营养丰富的饲料。他们还提供重要的生态服务，包括为水排毒和稳定海岸线。由于这些原因，调查过去盐沼的使用性质和范围的方法具有巨大的潜力，可以为过去的农业社会之间的沿海适应模式以及古环境变化提供新的见解。稳定氮同位素（δ ¹⁵ N）动物骨胶原的分析已经被用于研究基于这样的思想古盐沼使用，在盐水和/或沿海地区生长的植物可以具有较高的δ ¹⁵N个值。然而，解释δ ¹⁵ Ñ证据盐沼可使用具有挑战性，因为在地面氮源和循环变化可导致同样升高δ ¹⁵ N个值在未在盐沼喂养动物。生态研究表明，稳定的碳（δ ¹³ C）和硫（δ ³⁴ S）的同位素分析非常适合于调查的盐沼使用，因为关键物种（尤其是属互花米草）主宰这些生态系统在世界许多地区是C _4家工厂能够掺入硫化物衍生的³⁴ S贫化硫。我们调查了δ ¹³ C，δ ³⁴ S，和δ ¹⁵ N代表跟踪的盐沼使用考古食草动物（ñ 从加拿大第十七至十八世纪阿卡迪亚住区，这是素以农业用途的盐沼生态系统的= 80）。结果表明在极端变化δ ¹³ C和δ ³⁴ s的沿C供给一致₃ -to-C ₄和硫酸到硫醚系硫连续体。之间的相关性显著δ ¹³ C和δ ³⁴小号表明在这些同位素组合物，其变化反映的相对重要性Spartina在过去的Acadian畜牧业中。这些发现表明，即使在其它区域¹³ C-eniched食物来源是可用的（例如，海藻，玉米），合并的δ ¹³ C和δ ^34分论析Zhang应该能够识别互花米草沿海地区使用。甲强的负相关性也之间发现δ ³⁴ S和δ ¹⁵ N，这表明该区域驱动沿海硫和氮的循环过程耦合（独立的互花米草消耗）和提供新的见解背后的机制¹⁵ N的盐沼富集观察植物。