Differentiating between Steller sea lion ( Eumetopias jubatus ) and northern fur seal ( Callorhinus ursinus ) scats through analysis of faecal DNA
Abstract We describe a method to determine the species of pinniped from faeces collected from sympatric Steller sea lion ( Eumetopias jubatus ) and northern fur seal ( Callorhinus ursinus ) rookeries using newly developed species‐specific primers that amplify a 667–669‐base pair segment from the mit...
| Published in: | Molecular Ecology Resources |
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| Main Authors: | , , , |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Wiley
2010
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1755-0998.2010.02874.x https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1755-0998.2010.02874.x https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1755-0998.2010.02874.x https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/j.1755-0998.2010.02874.x |
| Summary: | Abstract We describe a method to determine the species of pinniped from faeces collected from sympatric Steller sea lion ( Eumetopias jubatus ) and northern fur seal ( Callorhinus ursinus ) rookeries using newly developed species‐specific primers that amplify a 667–669‐base pair segment from the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) cytochrome B (cytB) gene region. The primers yielded the correct species in 100% of tissue samples from 10 known animals and 100% of faecal samples from 13 known animals. Species could be identified unequivocally for 87.7% of faecal samples from 122 unknown individuals. The ability to differentiate between scats of sympatrically breeding Steller sea lions and northern fur seals will contribute to the range‐wide knowledge of the foraging strategies of both species as well as allow researchers to examine the niche partitioning and potential resource competition between the two predators. |
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