Comparisons of strontium isotope ratios in the water and otoliths suggest narrow habitat ranges of freshwater three-spined sticklebacks in Otsuchi, Japan

Abstract Stable isotope analysis is useful in elucidating the flow of elements among organisms and environments. Understanding the movement of organisms is important for the conservation of ecosystems, and radiogenic strontium stable isotope ratios (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr) are used as a tool to elucidate the relationship between fish and their habitat water and to investigate the movements and habitat ranges of fish. In this study, we compared ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios of whole otoliths of sticklebacks with those of