Mitchell, Lucy J., Horsburgh, Gavin J., Dawson, Deborah A. et al. (2 more authors) (2022) Metabarcoding reveals selective dietary responses to environmental availability in the diet of a nocturnal, aerial insectivore, the European Nightjar (Caprimulgus europaeus). Ibis. pp. 60-73. ISSN 0019-1019
Abstract
Many bird species are vulnerable to environmental change, so knowledge of their diet and its variation can help understand population status and flexibility to respond to change. Insectivorous species are predicted to have a flexible diet within and between individuals, which can respond to naturally fluctuating prey abundance, thus allowing opportunistic exploitation of available resources. We analysed the diet of a nocturnal, aerial insectivore, the European Nightjar Caprimulgus europaeus, using high-throughput metabarcoding. We quantified diet diversity and composition of 130 faecal samples from nests and roosts on a northern breeding site in the UK from 2015 to 2018, and compared differences among individuals and years. Although dominated by moths, diet varied significantly between individual faecal samples and between years and months. Prey species composition varied between years, and was more variable between samples in 2017 than in other years. Faecal samples were significantly more likely to contain moth species with a wingspan of > 60 mm and less likely to contain moth species of < 25 mm wingspan. This indicated size-selective foraging, which also varied between months and years. Diet was driven by interindividual variation, indicating population-level flexibility in prey choice. Metabarcoding provided a valuable tool in the exploration of insectivorous diets, but efforts are needed to build comprehensive reference libraries in order to compile full prey species lists.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | Funding Information: We thank all staff and volunteers involved in sample collection, especially Paul Shawcroft, Colin Neale, Vivian Hartwell, Stephen Mosely, Gracie Adams, Tim Jones and George Day. Thanks to Tim Kohler at Natural England for facilitating sample collection and storage. Many thanks to the three anonymous reviewers, and to the Associate Editor, who provided excellent feedback and thoughtful comments on two submissions of this paper, helping to improve the manuscript. © 2021 British Ornithologists' Union. This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. Further copying may not be permitted; contact the publisher for details |
Keywords: | 16S rRNA gene,avian ecology,diet,faecal sampling,Lepidoptera,metabarcoding,moth |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of York |
Academic Units: | The University of York > Faculty of Sciences (York) > Environment and Geography (York) |
Depositing User: | Pure (York) |
Date Deposited: | 12 Jan 2022 17:10 |
Last Modified: | 16 Oct 2024 18:08 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1111/ibi.13010 |
Status: | Published |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1111/ibi.13010 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:182479 |
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Filename: IBIS_2020_OP_115.R2_REV3_Clean_jwed_EIC.pdf
Description: IBIS-2020-OP-115.R2_(REV3)_Clean_jwed-EIC