Sources of variation in small rodent trophic niche: new insights from DNA metabarcoding and stable isotope analysis.
Intraspecific competition for food is expected to increase the trophic niche width of consumers, defined here as their diet diversity, but this process has been little studied in herbivores. Population densities of small rodents fluctuate greatly, providing a good study model to evaluate effects of competition on trophic niche. We studied resource use in five arctic small rodent populations of four species combining DNA metabarcoding of stomach contents and stable isotope analysis (SIA). Our results suggest that for small rodents, the most pronounced effect of competition on trophic niche is due to increased use of secondary habitats and to habitat-specific diets, rather than an expansion of trophic niche in primary habitat. DNA metabarcoding and SIA provided complementary information about the composition and temporal variation of herbivore diets. Combing these two approaches requires caution, as the underlying processes causing observed patterns may differ between methodologies due to different spatiotemporal scales.
a Department of Arctic and Marine Biology , UiT The Arctic University of Norway , Tromsø , Norway.
Eeva M
EM
Soininen
Dorothée
D
Ehrich
Nicolas
N
Lecomte
Nigel G
NG
Yoccoz
Arnaud
A
Tarroux
Dominique
D
Berteaux
Gilles
G
Gauthier
Ludovic
L
Gielly
Christian
C
Brochmann
Galina
G
Gussarova
Rolf A
RA
Ims
D000818:Animals; D001110:Arctic Regions; D003411:Arvicolinae / Q000502:physiology*; D002247:Carbon Isotopes / Q000378:metabolism; D058893:DNA Barcoding, Taxonomic; D017753:Ecosystem; D020387:Food Chain; D008011:Lichens / Q000378:metabolism; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D009587:Nitrogen Isotopes / Q000378:metabolism; D009664:Norway; D020957:Nunavut; D012426:Russia; D057948:Viridiplantae / Q000378:metabolism
D002247:Carbon Isotopes; D009587:Nitrogen Isotopes
DNA metabarcoding; animals; carbon-13; competition; diet diversity; habitat use; herbivore; isotope ecology; nitrogen-15; trophic niche width; tundra food web