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Fatty acid analysis as a tool to infer the diet in Illinois river otters (Lontra canadensis)

Fatty acids (FA) have recently been used in several studies to infer the diet in a number of species. While these studies have been largely successful, most have dealt with predators that have a fairly specialized diet. In this paper, we used FA analysis as a tool to infer the diet of the nearctic r...

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Autores principales: Satterthwaite-Phillips, Damian, Novakofski, Jan, Mateus-Pinilla, Nohra
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4540258/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26290705
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/2055-0391-56-16
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author Satterthwaite-Phillips, Damian
Novakofski, Jan
Mateus-Pinilla, Nohra
author_facet Satterthwaite-Phillips, Damian
Novakofski, Jan
Mateus-Pinilla, Nohra
author_sort Satterthwaite-Phillips, Damian
collection PubMed
description Fatty acids (FA) have recently been used in several studies to infer the diet in a number of species. While these studies have been largely successful, most have dealt with predators that have a fairly specialized diet. In this paper, we used FA analysis as a tool to infer the diet of the nearctic river otter (Lontra canadensis). The river otter is an opportunistic predator known to subsist on a wide variety of prey including, fishes, crayfish, molluscs, reptiles and amphibians, among others. We analyzed the principle components of 60 FA from otters and 25 potential prey species in Illinois, USA. Prey species came from 4 major taxonomic divisions: fishes, crayfish, molluscs and amphibians. Within each division, most, but not all, species had significantly different profiles. Using quantitative FA signature analysis, our results suggest that, by mass, fish species are the most significant component of Illinois River otters’ diet (37.7 ± 1.0%). Molluscs ranked second (32.0 ± 0.8%), followed by amphibians (27.3 ± 4.3%), and finally, crayfish (3.0 ± 0.6%). Our analysis indicates that molluscs make up a larger portion of the otter diet than previously reported. Throughout much of the Midwest there have been numerous otter reintroduction efforts, many of which appear to be successful. In regions where mollusc species are endangered, these data are essential for management agencies to better understand the potential impact of otters on these species. Our analysis further suggests that quantitative FA signature analysis can be used to infer diet even when prey species are diverse, to the extent that their FA profiles differ. Better understanding of the otter’s metabolism of FA would improve inferences of diet from FA analysis.
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spelling pubmed-45402582015-08-19 Fatty acid analysis as a tool to infer the diet in Illinois river otters (Lontra canadensis) Satterthwaite-Phillips, Damian Novakofski, Jan Mateus-Pinilla, Nohra J Anim Sci Technol Research Fatty acids (FA) have recently been used in several studies to infer the diet in a number of species. While these studies have been largely successful, most have dealt with predators that have a fairly specialized diet. In this paper, we used FA analysis as a tool to infer the diet of the nearctic river otter (Lontra canadensis). The river otter is an opportunistic predator known to subsist on a wide variety of prey including, fishes, crayfish, molluscs, reptiles and amphibians, among others. We analyzed the principle components of 60 FA from otters and 25 potential prey species in Illinois, USA. Prey species came from 4 major taxonomic divisions: fishes, crayfish, molluscs and amphibians. Within each division, most, but not all, species had significantly different profiles. Using quantitative FA signature analysis, our results suggest that, by mass, fish species are the most significant component of Illinois River otters’ diet (37.7 ± 1.0%). Molluscs ranked second (32.0 ± 0.8%), followed by amphibians (27.3 ± 4.3%), and finally, crayfish (3.0 ± 0.6%). Our analysis indicates that molluscs make up a larger portion of the otter diet than previously reported. Throughout much of the Midwest there have been numerous otter reintroduction efforts, many of which appear to be successful. In regions where mollusc species are endangered, these data are essential for management agencies to better understand the potential impact of otters on these species. Our analysis further suggests that quantitative FA signature analysis can be used to infer diet even when prey species are diverse, to the extent that their FA profiles differ. Better understanding of the otter’s metabolism of FA would improve inferences of diet from FA analysis. BioMed Central 2014-09-02 /pmc/articles/PMC4540258/ /pubmed/26290705 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/2055-0391-56-16 Text en © Satterthwaite-Phillips et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2014 This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
spellingShingle Research
Satterthwaite-Phillips, Damian
Novakofski, Jan
Mateus-Pinilla, Nohra
Fatty acid analysis as a tool to infer the diet in Illinois river otters (Lontra canadensis)
title Fatty acid analysis as a tool to infer the diet in Illinois river otters (Lontra canadensis)
title_full Fatty acid analysis as a tool to infer the diet in Illinois river otters (Lontra canadensis)
title_fullStr Fatty acid analysis as a tool to infer the diet in Illinois river otters (Lontra canadensis)
title_full_unstemmed Fatty acid analysis as a tool to infer the diet in Illinois river otters (Lontra canadensis)
title_short Fatty acid analysis as a tool to infer the diet in Illinois river otters (Lontra canadensis)
title_sort fatty acid analysis as a tool to infer the diet in illinois river otters (lontra canadensis)
topic Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4540258/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26290705
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/2055-0391-56-16
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