Topic: New publication: Deciphering Eurasian otter, harbour seal and
grey seal diet using metabarcoding. (Eileen Heße & Joy O. Boyi)
Dear
MARMAMers,
Our co-authors and ourselves are very pleased to announce our recent publication in Molecular Ecology which has evaluated the diet of Eurasian otters, harbour seals and grey seals using metabarcoding.
Boyi, J.
O., Heße, E., Rohner, S., Siebert, U., Gilles, A., & Lehnert, K. (2022).
Deciphering Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra L.) and seal (Phoca vitulina L.;
Halichoerus grypus F.) diet: metabarcoding tailored for fresh and saltwater
fish species. Molecular Ecology, doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.16635
Abstract:
Long-lived
top predators shape biodiversity structure in their ecosystems and
predator-prey interactions are critical in decoding how communities function.
Studies on the foraging ecology of seals and Eurasian otters in Western Europe
are outdated and most studies solely performed traditional hard part analysis.
Molecular metabarcoding can be used as an innovative non-invasive diet analysis
tool, which has proven efficient and complementary to hard part analysis,
however lacking application in the wider North Sea area. In this study, DNA
from digesta, collected between 2014-2020, were used to identify fish species
in the diet of 47 Eurasian otters, 54 harbour seals and 21 grey seals by
applying a next-generation metabarcoding approach. A newly designed 16S rRNA
primer, providing the best coverage of >130 local marine and freshwater fish
species, was used to amplify prey DNA from seal scats and otter gut content
sampled from the North Sea and regional freshwater bodies. Frequent fish
species included tench, ninespine stickleback and white bream in otters;
hooknose and common roach in grey seals and Pleuronectidae and sand gobies in
harbour seals. Bipartite network analysis showed a strong overlap of harbour
and grey seal diets. Otter diet intersected with both seal species in terms of
freshwater species. This study provides new knowledge about dietary composition
and community assemblage of fish prey in otters and seals in the North Sea and
regional freshwaters, and a new molecular tool to elucidate predator-prey
interactions and interspecies competition in complex and changing ecosystems
under pressure from anthropogenic activities.
The publication is freely available open access here: https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.16635
Please do contact us if you have any questions (eileen.hesse@tiho-hannover.de or joy.ometere.boyi@tiho-hannover.de).
Thank you
very much,
Eileen & Joy
On behalf
of all the co-authors
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Eileen Heße
Research associate & PhD candidate
ITAW | Institute for Terrestrial and Aquatic Wildlife Research
University for Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Foundation