Time series analysis of elemental and isotopic data from biomineralized whale tissue
QIN SHAO1, MACHELLE D. WILSON2, CHRISTOPHER S. ROMANEK3
and KEITH A. HOBSON4
1University of Toledo, Department of Mathematics
2University of Georgia, Savannah River Ecology Laboratory
3University of Georgia, Department of Geology and Savannah
River Ecology Laboratory
4Environment Canada, Canadian Wildlife Service Received February
2003; Revised October 2003
A temporal record of environmental conditions is often contained within
accretionary biological tissue. These records can provide knowledge of
the environmental conditions that existed at the time the tissue was formed.
In this study, we look at trace element concentrations and isotopic ratios
of carbon and nitrogen as contained in baleen from bowhead whales in the
eastern and western Arctic Ocean. Time series techniques. including maximum
likeIihood method and likelihood ratio tests are applied to analysis of
data and inference about their mean structures.
Keywords: Arctic, autoregressive moving-average series,
baleen, bowhead whale, likelihood ratio test, linear trend, isotope, seasonality,
time series, trace elements
SREL Reprint #2787
Shao, Q., M. D. Wilson, C. S. Romanek and K. A. Hobson. 2004. Time series analysis of elemental and isotopic data from biomineralized whale tissue. Environmental and Ecological Statistics 11:323-337.
