Large‐scale molecular diet analysis in a generalist marine mammal reveals male preference for prey of conservation concern
Sex‐specific diet information is important in the determination of predator impacts on prey populations. Unfortunately, the diet of males and females can be difficult to describe, particularly when they are marine predators. We combined two molecular techniques to describe haul‐out use and prey pref...
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:6202700 2023-05-15T16:33:09+02:00 Large‐scale molecular diet analysis in a generalist marine mammal reveals male preference for prey of conservation concern Schwarz, Dietmar Spitzer, Sara M. Thomas, Austen C. Kohnert, Christa M. Keates, Theresa R. Acevedo‐Gutiérrez, Alejandro 2018-09-15 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6202700/ https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.4474 en eng John Wiley and Sons Inc. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6202700/ http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.4474 © 2018 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. CC-BY Original Research Text 2018 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.4474 2018-11-04T01:45:42Z Sex‐specific diet information is important in the determination of predator impacts on prey populations. Unfortunately, the diet of males and females can be difficult to describe, particularly when they are marine predators. We combined two molecular techniques to describe haul‐out use and prey preferences of male and female harbor seals (Phoca vitulina) from Comox and Cowichan Bay (Canada) during 2012–2013. DNA metabarcoding quantified the diet proportions comprised of prey species in harbor seal scat, and qPCR determined the sex of the individual that deposited each scat. Using 287 female and 260 male samples, we compared the monthly sex ratio with GLMs and analyzed prey consumption relative to sex, season, site, and year with PERMANOVA. The sex ratio between monthly samples differed widely in both years (range = 12%–79% males) and showed different patterns at each haul‐out site. Male and female diet differed across both years and sites: Females consumed a high proportion of demersal fish species while males consumed more salmonid species. Diet composition was related to both sex and season (PERMANOVA: R 2 = 27%, p < 0.001; R 2 = 24%, p < 0.001, respectively) and their interaction (PERMANOVA: R 2 = 11%, p < 0.001). Diet differences between males and females were consistent across site and year, suggesting fundamental foraging differences, including that males may have a larger impact on salmonids than females. Our novel combination of techniques allowed for both prey taxonomic and spatiotemporal resolution unprecedented in marine predators. Text harbor seal Phoca vitulina PubMed Central (PMC) Canada Ecology and Evolution 8 19 9889 9905 |
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Original Research Schwarz, Dietmar Spitzer, Sara M. Thomas, Austen C. Kohnert, Christa M. Keates, Theresa R. Acevedo‐Gutiérrez, Alejandro Large‐scale molecular diet analysis in a generalist marine mammal reveals male preference for prey of conservation concern |
topic_facet |
Original Research |
description |
Sex‐specific diet information is important in the determination of predator impacts on prey populations. Unfortunately, the diet of males and females can be difficult to describe, particularly when they are marine predators. We combined two molecular techniques to describe haul‐out use and prey preferences of male and female harbor seals (Phoca vitulina) from Comox and Cowichan Bay (Canada) during 2012–2013. DNA metabarcoding quantified the diet proportions comprised of prey species in harbor seal scat, and qPCR determined the sex of the individual that deposited each scat. Using 287 female and 260 male samples, we compared the monthly sex ratio with GLMs and analyzed prey consumption relative to sex, season, site, and year with PERMANOVA. The sex ratio between monthly samples differed widely in both years (range = 12%–79% males) and showed different patterns at each haul‐out site. Male and female diet differed across both years and sites: Females consumed a high proportion of demersal fish species while males consumed more salmonid species. Diet composition was related to both sex and season (PERMANOVA: R 2 = 27%, p < 0.001; R 2 = 24%, p < 0.001, respectively) and their interaction (PERMANOVA: R 2 = 11%, p < 0.001). Diet differences between males and females were consistent across site and year, suggesting fundamental foraging differences, including that males may have a larger impact on salmonids than females. Our novel combination of techniques allowed for both prey taxonomic and spatiotemporal resolution unprecedented in marine predators. |
format |
Text |
author |
Schwarz, Dietmar Spitzer, Sara M. Thomas, Austen C. Kohnert, Christa M. Keates, Theresa R. Acevedo‐Gutiérrez, Alejandro |
author_facet |
Schwarz, Dietmar Spitzer, Sara M. Thomas, Austen C. Kohnert, Christa M. Keates, Theresa R. Acevedo‐Gutiérrez, Alejandro |
author_sort |
Schwarz, Dietmar |
title |
Large‐scale molecular diet analysis in a generalist marine mammal reveals male preference for prey of conservation concern |
title_short |
Large‐scale molecular diet analysis in a generalist marine mammal reveals male preference for prey of conservation concern |
title_full |
Large‐scale molecular diet analysis in a generalist marine mammal reveals male preference for prey of conservation concern |
title_fullStr |
Large‐scale molecular diet analysis in a generalist marine mammal reveals male preference for prey of conservation concern |
title_full_unstemmed |
Large‐scale molecular diet analysis in a generalist marine mammal reveals male preference for prey of conservation concern |
title_sort |
large‐scale molecular diet analysis in a generalist marine mammal reveals male preference for prey of conservation concern |
publisher |
John Wiley and Sons Inc. |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6202700/ https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.4474 |
geographic |
Canada |
geographic_facet |
Canada |
genre |
harbor seal Phoca vitulina |
genre_facet |
harbor seal Phoca vitulina |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6202700/ http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.4474 |
op_rights |
© 2018 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.4474 |
container_title |
Ecology and Evolution |
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8 |
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19 |
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9889 |
op_container_end_page |
9905 |
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1766022868491042816 |