Combining stable isotopes, morphological, and molecular analyses to reconstruct the diet of free‐ranging consumers
Abstract Accurate estimates of animal diet composition are essential to untangle complex interactions in food webs. Biomarkers and molecular tools are increasingly used to estimate diet, sometimes alongside traditional dietary tracing methods. Yet only a few empirical studies have compared the outco...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:ac30fc494dfe45efb23dcc71e94e343c 2023-05-15T15:51:15+02:00 Combining stable isotopes, morphological, and molecular analyses to reconstruct the diet of free‐ranging consumers Michaël Bonin Christian Dussault Joëlle Taillon Nicolas Lecomte Steeve D. Côté 2020-07-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.6397 https://doaj.org/article/ac30fc494dfe45efb23dcc71e94e343c EN eng Wiley https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.6397 https://doaj.org/toc/2045-7758 2045-7758 doi:10.1002/ece3.6397 https://doaj.org/article/ac30fc494dfe45efb23dcc71e94e343c Ecology and Evolution, Vol 10, Iss 13, Pp 6664-6676 (2020) Canis lupus carnivores diet reconstruction feeding strategies molecular diet analyses morphological diet analyses Ecology QH540-549.5 article 2020 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.6397 2022-12-31T15:35:14Z Abstract Accurate estimates of animal diet composition are essential to untangle complex interactions in food webs. Biomarkers and molecular tools are increasingly used to estimate diet, sometimes alongside traditional dietary tracing methods. Yet only a few empirical studies have compared the outcomes and potential gains of using a combination of these methods, especially using free‐ranging animals with distinct foraging preferences. We used stable isotopes, morphological, and molecular analyses to investigate the diet of free‐ranging consumers with two distinct diet types, that is, carnivore and omnivore. By combining the three analytical methods to assess the diet of consumers during the same period, we aimed to identify the limits of each method and to assess the potential benefits of their combined use to derive diet estimates. Our results showed that the different methods led to a consistent diet description for carnivores, which have a relatively simple diet mixture, but their outcomes somewhat differed for omnivore, which have a more complex diet. Still, the combined use of morphological and molecular analyses enhanced the diversity of food sources detected compared to the use of a single method independently of diet types. Precision of diet estimates derived from stable isotope analyses was improved by the addition of priors obtained from morphological and molecular diet analyses of the same population. Although we used free‐ranging animals without a known diet, our empirical testing of three of the most widely used methods of diet determination highlights the limits of relying over a single approach, especially in systems with few or no a priori information about the foraging habits of consumers. The choice of an appropriate approach of diet description should be a key step when planning dietary studies of free‐ranging populations. We recommend using more than one dietary determination methods especially for species with complex diet mixtures. Article in Journal/Newspaper Canis lupus Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Ecology and Evolution 10 13 6664 6676 |
institution |
Open Polar |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Canis lupus carnivores diet reconstruction feeding strategies molecular diet analyses morphological diet analyses Ecology QH540-549.5 |
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Canis lupus carnivores diet reconstruction feeding strategies molecular diet analyses morphological diet analyses Ecology QH540-549.5 Michaël Bonin Christian Dussault Joëlle Taillon Nicolas Lecomte Steeve D. Côté Combining stable isotopes, morphological, and molecular analyses to reconstruct the diet of free‐ranging consumers |
topic_facet |
Canis lupus carnivores diet reconstruction feeding strategies molecular diet analyses morphological diet analyses Ecology QH540-549.5 |
description |
Abstract Accurate estimates of animal diet composition are essential to untangle complex interactions in food webs. Biomarkers and molecular tools are increasingly used to estimate diet, sometimes alongside traditional dietary tracing methods. Yet only a few empirical studies have compared the outcomes and potential gains of using a combination of these methods, especially using free‐ranging animals with distinct foraging preferences. We used stable isotopes, morphological, and molecular analyses to investigate the diet of free‐ranging consumers with two distinct diet types, that is, carnivore and omnivore. By combining the three analytical methods to assess the diet of consumers during the same period, we aimed to identify the limits of each method and to assess the potential benefits of their combined use to derive diet estimates. Our results showed that the different methods led to a consistent diet description for carnivores, which have a relatively simple diet mixture, but their outcomes somewhat differed for omnivore, which have a more complex diet. Still, the combined use of morphological and molecular analyses enhanced the diversity of food sources detected compared to the use of a single method independently of diet types. Precision of diet estimates derived from stable isotope analyses was improved by the addition of priors obtained from morphological and molecular diet analyses of the same population. Although we used free‐ranging animals without a known diet, our empirical testing of three of the most widely used methods of diet determination highlights the limits of relying over a single approach, especially in systems with few or no a priori information about the foraging habits of consumers. The choice of an appropriate approach of diet description should be a key step when planning dietary studies of free‐ranging populations. We recommend using more than one dietary determination methods especially for species with complex diet mixtures. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Michaël Bonin Christian Dussault Joëlle Taillon Nicolas Lecomte Steeve D. Côté |
author_facet |
Michaël Bonin Christian Dussault Joëlle Taillon Nicolas Lecomte Steeve D. Côté |
author_sort |
Michaël Bonin |
title |
Combining stable isotopes, morphological, and molecular analyses to reconstruct the diet of free‐ranging consumers |
title_short |
Combining stable isotopes, morphological, and molecular analyses to reconstruct the diet of free‐ranging consumers |
title_full |
Combining stable isotopes, morphological, and molecular analyses to reconstruct the diet of free‐ranging consumers |
title_fullStr |
Combining stable isotopes, morphological, and molecular analyses to reconstruct the diet of free‐ranging consumers |
title_full_unstemmed |
Combining stable isotopes, morphological, and molecular analyses to reconstruct the diet of free‐ranging consumers |
title_sort |
combining stable isotopes, morphological, and molecular analyses to reconstruct the diet of free‐ranging consumers |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.6397 https://doaj.org/article/ac30fc494dfe45efb23dcc71e94e343c |
genre |
Canis lupus |
genre_facet |
Canis lupus |
op_source |
Ecology and Evolution, Vol 10, Iss 13, Pp 6664-6676 (2020) |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.6397 https://doaj.org/toc/2045-7758 2045-7758 doi:10.1002/ece3.6397 https://doaj.org/article/ac30fc494dfe45efb23dcc71e94e343c |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.6397 |
container_title |
Ecology and Evolution |
container_volume |
10 |
container_issue |
13 |
container_start_page |
6664 |
op_container_end_page |
6676 |
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1766386369337229312 |