Highly overlapping winter diet in two sympatric lemming species revealed by DNA metabarcoding.
Sympatric species are expected to minimize competition by partitioning resources, especially when these are limited. Herbivores inhabiting the High Arctic in winter are a prime example of a situation where food availability is anticipated to be low, and thus reduced diet overlap is expected. We pres...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:7b61db1c6b9745ffad2fd0efb7337b53 2023-05-15T15:00:39+02:00 Highly overlapping winter diet in two sympatric lemming species revealed by DNA metabarcoding. Eeva M Soininen Gilles Gauthier Frédéric Bilodeau Dominique Berteaux Ludovic Gielly Pierre Taberlet Galina Gussarova Eva Bellemain Kristian Hassel Hans K Stenøien Laura Epp Audun Schrøder-Nielsen Christian Brochmann Nigel G Yoccoz 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0115335 https://doaj.org/article/7b61db1c6b9745ffad2fd0efb7337b53 EN eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4312081?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0115335 https://doaj.org/article/7b61db1c6b9745ffad2fd0efb7337b53 PLoS ONE, Vol 10, Iss 1, p e0115335 (2015) Medicine R Science Q article 2015 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0115335 2022-12-31T12:46:48Z Sympatric species are expected to minimize competition by partitioning resources, especially when these are limited. Herbivores inhabiting the High Arctic in winter are a prime example of a situation where food availability is anticipated to be low, and thus reduced diet overlap is expected. We present here the first assessment of diet overlap of high arctic lemmings during winter based on DNA metabarcoding of feces. In contrast to previous analyses based on microhistology, we found that the diets of both collared (Dicrostonyx groenlandicus) and brown lemmings (Lemmus trimucronatus) on Bylot Island were dominated by Salix while mosses, which were significantly consumed only by the brown lemming, were a relatively minor food item. The most abundant plant taxon, Cassiope tetragona, which alone composes more than 50% of the available plant biomass, was not detected in feces and can thus be considered to be non-food. Most plant taxa that were identified as food items were consumed in proportion to their availability and none were clearly selected for. The resulting high diet overlap, together with a lack of habitat segregation, indicates a high potential for resource competition between the two lemming species. However, Salix is abundant in the winter habitats of lemmings on Bylot Island and the non-Salix portion of the diets differed between the two species. Also, lemming grazing impact on vegetation during winter in the study area is negligible. Hence, it seems likely that the high potential for resource competition predicted between these two species did not translate into actual competition. This illustrates that even in environments with low primary productivity food resources do not necessarily generate strong competition among herbivores. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Bylot Island Cassiope tetragona Dicrostonyx groenlandicus Lemmus trimucronatus Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Bylot Island PLOS ONE 10 1 e0115335 |
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Open Polar |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Medicine R Science Q |
spellingShingle |
Medicine R Science Q Eeva M Soininen Gilles Gauthier Frédéric Bilodeau Dominique Berteaux Ludovic Gielly Pierre Taberlet Galina Gussarova Eva Bellemain Kristian Hassel Hans K Stenøien Laura Epp Audun Schrøder-Nielsen Christian Brochmann Nigel G Yoccoz Highly overlapping winter diet in two sympatric lemming species revealed by DNA metabarcoding. |
topic_facet |
Medicine R Science Q |
description |
Sympatric species are expected to minimize competition by partitioning resources, especially when these are limited. Herbivores inhabiting the High Arctic in winter are a prime example of a situation where food availability is anticipated to be low, and thus reduced diet overlap is expected. We present here the first assessment of diet overlap of high arctic lemmings during winter based on DNA metabarcoding of feces. In contrast to previous analyses based on microhistology, we found that the diets of both collared (Dicrostonyx groenlandicus) and brown lemmings (Lemmus trimucronatus) on Bylot Island were dominated by Salix while mosses, which were significantly consumed only by the brown lemming, were a relatively minor food item. The most abundant plant taxon, Cassiope tetragona, which alone composes more than 50% of the available plant biomass, was not detected in feces and can thus be considered to be non-food. Most plant taxa that were identified as food items were consumed in proportion to their availability and none were clearly selected for. The resulting high diet overlap, together with a lack of habitat segregation, indicates a high potential for resource competition between the two lemming species. However, Salix is abundant in the winter habitats of lemmings on Bylot Island and the non-Salix portion of the diets differed between the two species. Also, lemming grazing impact on vegetation during winter in the study area is negligible. Hence, it seems likely that the high potential for resource competition predicted between these two species did not translate into actual competition. This illustrates that even in environments with low primary productivity food resources do not necessarily generate strong competition among herbivores. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Eeva M Soininen Gilles Gauthier Frédéric Bilodeau Dominique Berteaux Ludovic Gielly Pierre Taberlet Galina Gussarova Eva Bellemain Kristian Hassel Hans K Stenøien Laura Epp Audun Schrøder-Nielsen Christian Brochmann Nigel G Yoccoz |
author_facet |
Eeva M Soininen Gilles Gauthier Frédéric Bilodeau Dominique Berteaux Ludovic Gielly Pierre Taberlet Galina Gussarova Eva Bellemain Kristian Hassel Hans K Stenøien Laura Epp Audun Schrøder-Nielsen Christian Brochmann Nigel G Yoccoz |
author_sort |
Eeva M Soininen |
title |
Highly overlapping winter diet in two sympatric lemming species revealed by DNA metabarcoding. |
title_short |
Highly overlapping winter diet in two sympatric lemming species revealed by DNA metabarcoding. |
title_full |
Highly overlapping winter diet in two sympatric lemming species revealed by DNA metabarcoding. |
title_fullStr |
Highly overlapping winter diet in two sympatric lemming species revealed by DNA metabarcoding. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Highly overlapping winter diet in two sympatric lemming species revealed by DNA metabarcoding. |
title_sort |
highly overlapping winter diet in two sympatric lemming species revealed by dna metabarcoding. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0115335 https://doaj.org/article/7b61db1c6b9745ffad2fd0efb7337b53 |
geographic |
Arctic Bylot Island |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Bylot Island |
genre |
Arctic Bylot Island Cassiope tetragona Dicrostonyx groenlandicus Lemmus trimucronatus |
genre_facet |
Arctic Bylot Island Cassiope tetragona Dicrostonyx groenlandicus Lemmus trimucronatus |
op_source |
PLoS ONE, Vol 10, Iss 1, p e0115335 (2015) |
op_relation |
http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4312081?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0115335 https://doaj.org/article/7b61db1c6b9745ffad2fd0efb7337b53 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0115335 |
container_title |
PLOS ONE |
container_volume |
10 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
e0115335 |
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1766332733855891456 |