Local flexibility in feeding behaviour and contrasting microhabitat use of an omnivore across latitudes

• Published in: Oecologia
• Main Authors: Leclerc, Jean-Charles, De Bettignies, Thibaut, de Bettignies, Florian, Christie, Hartvig, Franco, João, Leroux, Cédric, Davoult, Dominique, Pedersen, Morten, Filbee-Dexter, Karen, Wernberg, Thomas
• Other Authors: Adaptation et diversité en milieu marin (AD2M), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Station biologique de Roscoff (SBR), Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción (UCSC), Patrimoine naturel (PatriNat), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Office français de la biodiversité (OFB), The University of Western Australia (UWA), Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA), Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research Matosinhos, Portugal (CIIMAR), Universidade do Porto, Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre Portugal (MARE), Instituto Universitário de Ciências Psicológicas, Sociais e da Vida (ISPA), Station biologique de Roscoff (SBR), Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Roskilde University
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2021
• Subjects: Echinus esculentus; Food web; Laminaria hyperborea; Opportunism; Trophic plasticity; Urchin grazing; [SDE]Environmental Sciences; Norway; Northeast Atlantic; Northern Norway
• Online Access: https://hal.sorbonne-universite.fr/hal-03231854; https://hal.sorbonne-universite.fr/hal-03231854/document; https://hal.sorbonne-universite.fr/hal-03231854/file/Leclerc%20et%20al.%20-%202021%20-%20Local%20flexibility%20in%20feeding%20behaviour%20and%20contras.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-021-04936-5

International audience As the environment is getting warmer and species are redistributed, consumers can be forced to adjust their interactions with available prey, and this could have cascading effects within food webs. To better understand the capacity for foraging flexibility, our study aimed to determine the diet variability of an ectotherm omnivore inhabiting kelp forests, the sea urchin Echinus esculentus, along its entire latitudinal distribution in the northeast Atlantic. Using a combination of gut content and stable isotope analyses, we determined the diet and trophic position of sea urchins at sites in Portugal (42° N), France (49° N), southern Norway (63° N), and northern Norway (70° N), and related these results to the local abundance and distribution of putative food items. With mean estimated trophic levels ranging from 2.4 to 4.6, omnivory and diet varied substantially within and between sites but not across latitudes. Diet composition generally reflected prey availability within epiphyte or understorey assemblages, with local affinities demonstrating that the sea urchin adjusts its foraging to match the small-scale distribution of food items. A net "preference" for epiphytic food sources was found in northern Norway, where understorey food was limited compared to other regions. We conclude that diet change may occur in response to food source redistribution at multiple spatial scales (microhabitats, sites, regions). Across these scales, the way that key consumers alter their foraging in response to food availability can have important implication for food web dynamics and ecosystem functions along current and future environmental gradients.