The stable isotope hydrology of Sable Island, Nova Scotia, Canada with implications for evaluating the water budget of wild horses

ABSTRACT

We investigated the stable isotope hydrology of Sable Island, Nova Scotia, Canada over a five year period from September, 2017 to August, 2022. The δ²H and δ¹⁸O values of integrated monthly precipitation were weakly seasonal and ranged from –66 to –15 ‰ and from –9.7 to –1.9 ‰, respectively. Fitting these monthly precipitation data resulted in a local meteoric water line (LMWL) defined by: δ²H = 7.22 ± 0.21 · δ¹⁸O + 7.50 ± 1.22 ‰. Amount-weighted annual precipitation had δ²H and δ¹⁸O values of –36 ± 11 ‰ and –6.1 ± 1.4 ‰, respectively. Deep groundwater had more negative δ²H and δ¹⁸O values than mean annual precipitation, suggesting recharge occurs mainly in the winter, while shallow groundwater had δ²H and δ¹⁸O values more consistent with mean annual precipitation or mixing of freshwater with local seawater. Surface waters had more positive values and showed evidence of isolation from the groundwater system. The stable isotopic compositions of plant (leaf) water, on the other hand, indicate plants use groundwater as their source. Fog had δ²H and δ¹⁸O values that were significantly more positive than those of local precipitation, yet had similar ¹⁷O-excess values. δ²H values of horsehair from 4 individuals lacked seasonality, but had variations typical to those of precipitation on the island. Differences in mean δ²H values of horsehair were statistically significant and suggest variations in water use may exist between spatially disparate horse communities. Our results establish an important initial framework for ongoing isotope studies of feral horses and other wildlife on Sable Island.

KEYWORDS:

• Hydrogen-2
• isotope ecology
• isotope hydrology
• Nova Scotia
• oxygen-17
• oxygen-18
• Sable Island
• water sources
• wild horses

Acknowledgements

We thank Sarah Medill and the Parks Canada staff for ongoing precipitation collections and logistical support. Ruth Greuel and Phil McLoughlan graciously arranged transport of samples from Sable Island to our laboratory and special thanks to Kim Janzen of the Global Institute for Water Security at the University of Saskatchewan for her expertise with the plant water extractions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

All data used in this study will be publicly available the at the Government of Canada Open Data repository [57] and through the GNIP program of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) [58].

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by Environment and Climate Change Canada.