Tooth Microwear Texture in the Eastern Atlantic Harbour Seals (Phoca vitulina vitulina) of the German Wadden Sea and Its Implications for Long Term Dietary and Ecosystem Changes
Marine mammals are increasingly threatened in their habitat by various anthropogenic impacts. This is particularly evident in prey abundance. Understanding the dietary strategies of marine mammal populations can help predict implications for their future health status and is essential for their cons...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:23015793caeb4dd297386c879fbfc25d 2023-05-15T16:33:39+02:00 Tooth Microwear Texture in the Eastern Atlantic Harbour Seals (Phoca vitulina vitulina) of the German Wadden Sea and Its Implications for Long Term Dietary and Ecosystem Changes Elehna Bethune Ellen Schulz-Kornas Kristina Lehnert Ursula Siebert Thomas M. Kaiser 2021-04-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2021.644019 https://doaj.org/article/23015793caeb4dd297386c879fbfc25d EN eng Frontiers Media S.A. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2021.644019/full https://doaj.org/toc/2296-701X 2296-701X doi:10.3389/fevo.2021.644019 https://doaj.org/article/23015793caeb4dd297386c879fbfc25d Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, Vol 9 (2021) dental microwear texture analysis (DMTA) marine mammals Phoca vitulina (Harbour seal) German Wadden Sea pinnipeds diet Evolution QH359-425 Ecology QH540-549.5 article 2021 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2021.644019 2022-12-31T05:51:33Z Marine mammals are increasingly threatened in their habitat by various anthropogenic impacts. This is particularly evident in prey abundance. Understanding the dietary strategies of marine mammal populations can help predict implications for their future health status and is essential for their conservation. In this study we provide a striking example of a new dietary proxy in pinnipeds to document marine mammal diets using a dental record. In this novel approach, we used a combination of 49 parameters to establish a dental microwear texture (DMTA) as a dietary proxy of feeding behaviour in harbour seals. This method is an established approach to assess diets in terrestrial mammals, but has not yet been applied to pinnipeds. Our aim was to establish a protocol, opening DMTA to pinnipeds by investigating inter- and intra-individual variations. We analysed the 244 upper teeth of 78 Atlantic harbour seals (Phoca vitulina vitulina). The specimens were collected in 1988 along the North Sea coast (Wadden Sea, Germany) and are curated by the Zoological Institute of Kiel University, Germany. An increasing surface texture roughness from frontal to distal teeth was found and related to different prey processing biomechanics. Ten and five year old individuals were similar in their texture roughness, whereas males and females were similar to each other with the exception of their frontal dentition. Fall and summer specimens also featured no difference in texture roughness. We established the second to fourth postcanine teeth as reference tooth positions, as those were unaffected by age, sex, season, or intra-individual variation. In summary, applying indirect dietary proxies, such as DMTA, will allow reconstructing dietary traits of pinnipeds using existing skeletal collection material. Combining DMTA with time series analyses is a very promising approach to track health status in pinniped populations over the last decades. This approach opens new research avenues and could help detect dietary shifts in marine environments ... Article in Journal/Newspaper harbour seal Phoca vitulina Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 9 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
dental microwear texture analysis (DMTA) marine mammals Phoca vitulina (Harbour seal) German Wadden Sea pinnipeds diet Evolution QH359-425 Ecology QH540-549.5 |
spellingShingle |
dental microwear texture analysis (DMTA) marine mammals Phoca vitulina (Harbour seal) German Wadden Sea pinnipeds diet Evolution QH359-425 Ecology QH540-549.5 Elehna Bethune Ellen Schulz-Kornas Kristina Lehnert Ursula Siebert Thomas M. Kaiser Tooth Microwear Texture in the Eastern Atlantic Harbour Seals (Phoca vitulina vitulina) of the German Wadden Sea and Its Implications for Long Term Dietary and Ecosystem Changes |
topic_facet |
dental microwear texture analysis (DMTA) marine mammals Phoca vitulina (Harbour seal) German Wadden Sea pinnipeds diet Evolution QH359-425 Ecology QH540-549.5 |
description |
Marine mammals are increasingly threatened in their habitat by various anthropogenic impacts. This is particularly evident in prey abundance. Understanding the dietary strategies of marine mammal populations can help predict implications for their future health status and is essential for their conservation. In this study we provide a striking example of a new dietary proxy in pinnipeds to document marine mammal diets using a dental record. In this novel approach, we used a combination of 49 parameters to establish a dental microwear texture (DMTA) as a dietary proxy of feeding behaviour in harbour seals. This method is an established approach to assess diets in terrestrial mammals, but has not yet been applied to pinnipeds. Our aim was to establish a protocol, opening DMTA to pinnipeds by investigating inter- and intra-individual variations. We analysed the 244 upper teeth of 78 Atlantic harbour seals (Phoca vitulina vitulina). The specimens were collected in 1988 along the North Sea coast (Wadden Sea, Germany) and are curated by the Zoological Institute of Kiel University, Germany. An increasing surface texture roughness from frontal to distal teeth was found and related to different prey processing biomechanics. Ten and five year old individuals were similar in their texture roughness, whereas males and females were similar to each other with the exception of their frontal dentition. Fall and summer specimens also featured no difference in texture roughness. We established the second to fourth postcanine teeth as reference tooth positions, as those were unaffected by age, sex, season, or intra-individual variation. In summary, applying indirect dietary proxies, such as DMTA, will allow reconstructing dietary traits of pinnipeds using existing skeletal collection material. Combining DMTA with time series analyses is a very promising approach to track health status in pinniped populations over the last decades. This approach opens new research avenues and could help detect dietary shifts in marine environments ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Elehna Bethune Ellen Schulz-Kornas Kristina Lehnert Ursula Siebert Thomas M. Kaiser |
author_facet |
Elehna Bethune Ellen Schulz-Kornas Kristina Lehnert Ursula Siebert Thomas M. Kaiser |
author_sort |
Elehna Bethune |
title |
Tooth Microwear Texture in the Eastern Atlantic Harbour Seals (Phoca vitulina vitulina) of the German Wadden Sea and Its Implications for Long Term Dietary and Ecosystem Changes |
title_short |
Tooth Microwear Texture in the Eastern Atlantic Harbour Seals (Phoca vitulina vitulina) of the German Wadden Sea and Its Implications for Long Term Dietary and Ecosystem Changes |
title_full |
Tooth Microwear Texture in the Eastern Atlantic Harbour Seals (Phoca vitulina vitulina) of the German Wadden Sea and Its Implications for Long Term Dietary and Ecosystem Changes |
title_fullStr |
Tooth Microwear Texture in the Eastern Atlantic Harbour Seals (Phoca vitulina vitulina) of the German Wadden Sea and Its Implications for Long Term Dietary and Ecosystem Changes |
title_full_unstemmed |
Tooth Microwear Texture in the Eastern Atlantic Harbour Seals (Phoca vitulina vitulina) of the German Wadden Sea and Its Implications for Long Term Dietary and Ecosystem Changes |
title_sort |
tooth microwear texture in the eastern atlantic harbour seals (phoca vitulina vitulina) of the german wadden sea and its implications for long term dietary and ecosystem changes |
publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2021.644019 https://doaj.org/article/23015793caeb4dd297386c879fbfc25d |
genre |
harbour seal Phoca vitulina |
genre_facet |
harbour seal Phoca vitulina |
op_source |
Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, Vol 9 (2021) |
op_relation |
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2021.644019/full https://doaj.org/toc/2296-701X 2296-701X doi:10.3389/fevo.2021.644019 https://doaj.org/article/23015793caeb4dd297386c879fbfc25d |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2021.644019 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution |
container_volume |
9 |
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1766023347415547904 |