Predator–prey interactions in the Arctic: DNA metabarcoding reveals that nestling diet of snow buntings reflects arthropod seasonality
Abstract Tundra arthropods are of considerable ecological importance as a seasonal food source for many arctic‐breeding birds. Dietary composition and food preferences are rarely known, complicating assessments of ecological interactions in a changing environment. In our field study, we investigated...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/edn3.439 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/edn3.439 |
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crwiley:10.1002/edn3.439 2024-06-02T08:01:48+00:00 Predator–prey interactions in the Arctic: DNA metabarcoding reveals that nestling diet of snow buntings reflects arthropod seasonality Stolz, Christian Varpe, Øystein Ims, Rolf A. Sandercock, Brett K. Stokke, Bård G. Fossøy, Frode 2023 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/edn3.439 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/edn3.439 en eng Wiley http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Environmental DNA volume 5, issue 6, page 1234-1251 ISSN 2637-4943 2637-4943 journal-article 2023 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1002/edn3.439 2024-05-03T11:37:22Z Abstract Tundra arthropods are of considerable ecological importance as a seasonal food source for many arctic‐breeding birds. Dietary composition and food preferences are rarely known, complicating assessments of ecological interactions in a changing environment. In our field study, we investigated the nestling diet of snow buntings ( Plectrophenax nivalis (L., 1758)) breeding in Svalbard. We collected fecal samples from 8‐day‐old nestlings and assessed dietary composition by DNA metabarcoding. Simultaneously, the availability of potential prey arthropods was measured by pitfall trapping. Molecular analyses of nestling feces identified 31 arthropod taxa in the diet, whose proportions changed throughout the brood‐rearing period. Changes in nestling diet matched varying abundances and emergence patterns of the tundra arthropod community. Snow buntings provisioned their offspring mainly with Diptera (true flies) based on both presence/absence and relative read abundance of diet items. At the beginning of the season in June, Chironomidae (nonbiting midges) and the scathophagid fly Scathophaga furcata (Say, 1823) dominated the diet, whereas the muscid fly Spilogona dorsata (Zetterstedt, 1845) dominated the diet later in July. When accounted for availability, muscid flies were selected positively among the most often provisioned food taxa. Our study demonstrates the ecological role of the snow bunting as a generalist arthropod predator and highlights DNA metabarcoding as a noninvasive technique for diet analyses with high taxonomical precision if sufficient DNA‐sequence libraries are available. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Plectrophenax nivalis Snow Bunting Svalbard Tundra Wiley Online Library Arctic Svalbard Environmental DNA |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Wiley Online Library |
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crwiley |
language |
English |
description |
Abstract Tundra arthropods are of considerable ecological importance as a seasonal food source for many arctic‐breeding birds. Dietary composition and food preferences are rarely known, complicating assessments of ecological interactions in a changing environment. In our field study, we investigated the nestling diet of snow buntings ( Plectrophenax nivalis (L., 1758)) breeding in Svalbard. We collected fecal samples from 8‐day‐old nestlings and assessed dietary composition by DNA metabarcoding. Simultaneously, the availability of potential prey arthropods was measured by pitfall trapping. Molecular analyses of nestling feces identified 31 arthropod taxa in the diet, whose proportions changed throughout the brood‐rearing period. Changes in nestling diet matched varying abundances and emergence patterns of the tundra arthropod community. Snow buntings provisioned their offspring mainly with Diptera (true flies) based on both presence/absence and relative read abundance of diet items. At the beginning of the season in June, Chironomidae (nonbiting midges) and the scathophagid fly Scathophaga furcata (Say, 1823) dominated the diet, whereas the muscid fly Spilogona dorsata (Zetterstedt, 1845) dominated the diet later in July. When accounted for availability, muscid flies were selected positively among the most often provisioned food taxa. Our study demonstrates the ecological role of the snow bunting as a generalist arthropod predator and highlights DNA metabarcoding as a noninvasive technique for diet analyses with high taxonomical precision if sufficient DNA‐sequence libraries are available. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Stolz, Christian Varpe, Øystein Ims, Rolf A. Sandercock, Brett K. Stokke, Bård G. Fossøy, Frode |
spellingShingle |
Stolz, Christian Varpe, Øystein Ims, Rolf A. Sandercock, Brett K. Stokke, Bård G. Fossøy, Frode Predator–prey interactions in the Arctic: DNA metabarcoding reveals that nestling diet of snow buntings reflects arthropod seasonality |
author_facet |
Stolz, Christian Varpe, Øystein Ims, Rolf A. Sandercock, Brett K. Stokke, Bård G. Fossøy, Frode |
author_sort |
Stolz, Christian |
title |
Predator–prey interactions in the Arctic: DNA metabarcoding reveals that nestling diet of snow buntings reflects arthropod seasonality |
title_short |
Predator–prey interactions in the Arctic: DNA metabarcoding reveals that nestling diet of snow buntings reflects arthropod seasonality |
title_full |
Predator–prey interactions in the Arctic: DNA metabarcoding reveals that nestling diet of snow buntings reflects arthropod seasonality |
title_fullStr |
Predator–prey interactions in the Arctic: DNA metabarcoding reveals that nestling diet of snow buntings reflects arthropod seasonality |
title_full_unstemmed |
Predator–prey interactions in the Arctic: DNA metabarcoding reveals that nestling diet of snow buntings reflects arthropod seasonality |
title_sort |
predator–prey interactions in the arctic: dna metabarcoding reveals that nestling diet of snow buntings reflects arthropod seasonality |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/edn3.439 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/edn3.439 |
geographic |
Arctic Svalbard |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Svalbard |
genre |
Arctic Plectrophenax nivalis Snow Bunting Svalbard Tundra |
genre_facet |
Arctic Plectrophenax nivalis Snow Bunting Svalbard Tundra |
op_source |
Environmental DNA volume 5, issue 6, page 1234-1251 ISSN 2637-4943 2637-4943 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/edn3.439 |
container_title |
Environmental DNA |
_version_ |
1800746303310790656 |