Cargando…

Integrating isotopic and nutritional niches reveals multiple dimensions of individual diet specialisation in a marine apex predator

1. Dietary specialisations are important determinants of ecological structure, particularly in species with high per‐capita trophic influence like marine apex predators. These species are, however, among the most challenging in which to establish spatiotemporally integrated diets. 2. We introduce a...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Grainger, Richard, Raoult, Vincent, Peddemors, Victor M., Machovsky‐Capuska, Gabriel E., Gaston, Troy F., Raubenheimer, David
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10107186/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36421071
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13852
_version_ 1785026552047599616
author Grainger, Richard
Raoult, Vincent
Peddemors, Victor M.
Machovsky‐Capuska, Gabriel E.
Gaston, Troy F.
Raubenheimer, David
author_facet Grainger, Richard
Raoult, Vincent
Peddemors, Victor M.
Machovsky‐Capuska, Gabriel E.
Gaston, Troy F.
Raubenheimer, David
author_sort Grainger, Richard
collection PubMed
description 1. Dietary specialisations are important determinants of ecological structure, particularly in species with high per‐capita trophic influence like marine apex predators. These species are, however, among the most challenging in which to establish spatiotemporally integrated diets. 2. We introduce a novel integration of stable isotopes with a multidimensional nutritional niche framework that addresses the challenges of establishing spatiotemporally integrated nutritional niches in wild populations, and apply the framework to explore individual diet specialisation in a marine apex predator, the white shark Carcharodon carcharias. 3. Sequential tooth files were sampled from juvenile white sharks to establish individual isotopic (δ‐space; δ(13)C, δ(15)N, δ(34)S) niche specialisation. Bayesian mixing models were then used to reveal individual‐level prey (p‐space) specialisation, and further combined with nutritional geometry models to quantify the nutritional (N‐space) dimensions of individual specialisation, and their relationships to prey use. 4. Isotopic and mixing model analyses indicated juvenile white sharks as individual specialists within a broader, generalist, population niche. Individual sharks differed in their consumption of several important mesopredator species, which suggested among‐individual variance in trophic roles in either pelagic or benthic food webs. However, variation in nutrient intakes was small and not consistently correlated with differences in prey use, suggesting white sharks as nutritional specialists and that individuals could use functionally and nutritionally different prey as complementary means to achieve a common nutritional goal. 5. We identify how degrees of individual specialisation can differ between niche spaces (δ‐, p‐ or N‐space), the physiological and ecological implications of this, and argue that integrating nutrition can provide stronger, mechanistic links between diet specialisation and its intrinsic (fitness/performance) and extrinsic (ecological) outcomes. Our time‐integrated framework is adaptable for examining the nutritional consequences and drivers of food use variation at the individual, population or species level.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-10107186
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2022
publisher John Wiley and Sons Inc.
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-101071862023-04-18 Integrating isotopic and nutritional niches reveals multiple dimensions of individual diet specialisation in a marine apex predator Grainger, Richard Raoult, Vincent Peddemors, Victor M. Machovsky‐Capuska, Gabriel E. Gaston, Troy F. Raubenheimer, David J Anim Ecol Research Articles 1. Dietary specialisations are important determinants of ecological structure, particularly in species with high per‐capita trophic influence like marine apex predators. These species are, however, among the most challenging in which to establish spatiotemporally integrated diets. 2. We introduce a novel integration of stable isotopes with a multidimensional nutritional niche framework that addresses the challenges of establishing spatiotemporally integrated nutritional niches in wild populations, and apply the framework to explore individual diet specialisation in a marine apex predator, the white shark Carcharodon carcharias. 3. Sequential tooth files were sampled from juvenile white sharks to establish individual isotopic (δ‐space; δ(13)C, δ(15)N, δ(34)S) niche specialisation. Bayesian mixing models were then used to reveal individual‐level prey (p‐space) specialisation, and further combined with nutritional geometry models to quantify the nutritional (N‐space) dimensions of individual specialisation, and their relationships to prey use. 4. Isotopic and mixing model analyses indicated juvenile white sharks as individual specialists within a broader, generalist, population niche. Individual sharks differed in their consumption of several important mesopredator species, which suggested among‐individual variance in trophic roles in either pelagic or benthic food webs. However, variation in nutrient intakes was small and not consistently correlated with differences in prey use, suggesting white sharks as nutritional specialists and that individuals could use functionally and nutritionally different prey as complementary means to achieve a common nutritional goal. 5. We identify how degrees of individual specialisation can differ between niche spaces (δ‐, p‐ or N‐space), the physiological and ecological implications of this, and argue that integrating nutrition can provide stronger, mechanistic links between diet specialisation and its intrinsic (fitness/performance) and extrinsic (ecological) outcomes. Our time‐integrated framework is adaptable for examining the nutritional consequences and drivers of food use variation at the individual, population or species level. John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2022-12-23 2023-02 /pmc/articles/PMC10107186/ /pubmed/36421071 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13852 Text en © 2022 The Authors. Journal of Animal Ecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Ecological Society. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Articles
Grainger, Richard
Raoult, Vincent
Peddemors, Victor M.
Machovsky‐Capuska, Gabriel E.
Gaston, Troy F.
Raubenheimer, David
Integrating isotopic and nutritional niches reveals multiple dimensions of individual diet specialisation in a marine apex predator
title Integrating isotopic and nutritional niches reveals multiple dimensions of individual diet specialisation in a marine apex predator
title_full Integrating isotopic and nutritional niches reveals multiple dimensions of individual diet specialisation in a marine apex predator
title_fullStr Integrating isotopic and nutritional niches reveals multiple dimensions of individual diet specialisation in a marine apex predator
title_full_unstemmed Integrating isotopic and nutritional niches reveals multiple dimensions of individual diet specialisation in a marine apex predator
title_short Integrating isotopic and nutritional niches reveals multiple dimensions of individual diet specialisation in a marine apex predator
title_sort integrating isotopic and nutritional niches reveals multiple dimensions of individual diet specialisation in a marine apex predator
topic Research Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10107186/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36421071
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13852
work_keys_str_mv AT graingerrichard integratingisotopicandnutritionalnichesrevealsmultipledimensionsofindividualdietspecialisationinamarineapexpredator
AT raoultvincent integratingisotopicandnutritionalnichesrevealsmultipledimensionsofindividualdietspecialisationinamarineapexpredator
AT peddemorsvictorm integratingisotopicandnutritionalnichesrevealsmultipledimensionsofindividualdietspecialisationinamarineapexpredator
AT machovskycapuskagabriele integratingisotopicandnutritionalnichesrevealsmultipledimensionsofindividualdietspecialisationinamarineapexpredator
AT gastontroyf integratingisotopicandnutritionalnichesrevealsmultipledimensionsofindividualdietspecialisationinamarineapexpredator
AT raubenheimerdavid integratingisotopicandnutritionalnichesrevealsmultipledimensionsofindividualdietspecialisationinamarineapexpredator