A global perspective on the trophic geography of sharks

Sharks are a diverse group of mobile predators that forage across varied spatial scales and have the potential to influence food web dynamics. The ecological consequences of recent declines in shark biomass may extend across broader geographic ranges if shark taxa display common behavioural traits. By tracking the original site of photosynthetic fixation of carbon atoms that were ultimately assimilated into muscle tissues of 5,394 sharks from 114 species, we identify globally consistent biogeographic traits in trophic interactions between sharks found in different habitats. We show that populations of shelf-dwelling sharks derive a substantial proportion of their carbon from regional pelagic sources, but contain individuals that forage within additional isotopically diverse local food webs, such as those supported by terrestrial plant sources, benthic production and macrophytes. In contrast, oceanic sharks seem to use carbon derived from between 30° and 50° of latitude. Global-scale compilations of stable isotope data combined with biogeochemical modelling generate hypotheses regarding animal behaviours that can be tested with other methodological approaches.This research was conducted as part of C.S.B.’s Ph.D dissertation, which was funded by the University of Southampton and NERC (NE/L50161X/1), and through a NERC Grant-in-Kind from the Life Sciences Mass Spectrometry Facility (LSMSF; EK267-03/16). We thank A. Bates, D. Sims, F. Neat, R. McGill and J. Newton for their analytical contributions and comments on the manuscripts.Peer reviewe

'Langsam werde ich wieder nüchtern.' Die poetologische Funktion von Alkoholkonsum in Christian Krachts Romanen 'Faserland' und '1979'

This article discusses the poetological function of alcohol consumption in Christian Kracht’s early novels ‹Faserland› (1995) and ‹1979› (2001) which belong partly to the postmodern genre of Neue Deutsche Popliteratur. The understanding of alcohol drinking as a ‹vehicle› for people’s plans and wishes offers the possiblity to analyse, on the basis of this topos, the literary suggestion of the individual interplay within social conventions by which the self is synthesized as an ‹identity product›. The article opens with outlining the cultural and psychosocial implications of alcohol consumption. Subsequently, an outline of the complex conceptualization of postmodern identity which emerges in Kracht’s work will be presented. The article concludes by analysing the two novels, using the beforehand developed parameters. Thus poetological implications of the protagonists’ alcohol drinking can be synthesized with an emphasis on the postmodern paradigm of identity or subject difficulty

Revision nationaler Selbsterzählungen in den 1950er Jahren. Eine transmediale Analyse von Bad Day at Black Rock und Der Besuch der alten Dame

This paper is an original exploration of the wide structural, compositional and formal similarities between Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s successful play The Visit (1956) and the post-western film BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK (1955). Locating both works within the con- text of their recent history (World War II) and their own time (1950s), this comparative analysis argues that their particular deconstructions and revisions of the ›national myths‹ of their countries of origin reveal the paradigm of collective guilt as a funda- mental commonality of the pair