Cargando…

Molecular prey identification in Central European piscivores

Diet analysis is an important aspect when investigating the ecology of fish‐eating animals and essential for assessing their functional role in food webs across aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. The identification of fish remains in dietary samples, however, can be time‐consuming and unsatisfying...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Thalinger, Bettina, Oehm, Johannes, Mayr, Hannes, Obwexer, Armin, Zeisler, Christiane, Traugott, Michael
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4744964/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26053612
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1755-0998.12436
_version_ 1782414555245182976
author Thalinger, Bettina
Oehm, Johannes
Mayr, Hannes
Obwexer, Armin
Zeisler, Christiane
Traugott, Michael
author_facet Thalinger, Bettina
Oehm, Johannes
Mayr, Hannes
Obwexer, Armin
Zeisler, Christiane
Traugott, Michael
author_sort Thalinger, Bettina
collection PubMed
description Diet analysis is an important aspect when investigating the ecology of fish‐eating animals and essential for assessing their functional role in food webs across aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. The identification of fish remains in dietary samples, however, can be time‐consuming and unsatisfying using conventional morphological analysis of prey remains. Here, we present a two‐step multiplex PCR system, comprised of six assays, allowing for rapid, sensitive and specific detection of fish DNA in dietary samples. This approach encompasses 78 fish and lamprey species native to Central European freshwaters and enables the identification of 31 species, six genera, two families, two orders and two fish family clusters. All targeted taxa were successfully amplified from 25 template molecules, and each assay was specific when tested against a wide range of invertebrates and vertebrates inhabiting aquatic environments. The applicability of the multiplex PCR system was evaluated in a feeding trial, wherein it outperformed morphological prey analysis regarding species‐specific prey identification in faeces of Eurasian otters. Additionally, a wide spectrum of fish species was detected in field‐collected faecal samples and regurgitated pellets of Common Kingfishers and Great Cormorants, demonstrating the broad applicability of the approach. In conclusion, this multiplex PCR system provides an efficient, easy to use and cost‐effective tool for assessing the trophic ecology of piscivores in Central Europe. Furthermore, the multiplex PCRs and the primers described therein will be applicable wherever DNA of the targeted fish species needs to be detected at high sensitivity and specificity.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-4744964
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2015
publisher John Wiley and Sons Inc.
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-47449642016-02-18 Molecular prey identification in Central European piscivores Thalinger, Bettina Oehm, Johannes Mayr, Hannes Obwexer, Armin Zeisler, Christiane Traugott, Michael Mol Ecol Resour RESOURCE ARTICLES Diet analysis is an important aspect when investigating the ecology of fish‐eating animals and essential for assessing their functional role in food webs across aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. The identification of fish remains in dietary samples, however, can be time‐consuming and unsatisfying using conventional morphological analysis of prey remains. Here, we present a two‐step multiplex PCR system, comprised of six assays, allowing for rapid, sensitive and specific detection of fish DNA in dietary samples. This approach encompasses 78 fish and lamprey species native to Central European freshwaters and enables the identification of 31 species, six genera, two families, two orders and two fish family clusters. All targeted taxa were successfully amplified from 25 template molecules, and each assay was specific when tested against a wide range of invertebrates and vertebrates inhabiting aquatic environments. The applicability of the multiplex PCR system was evaluated in a feeding trial, wherein it outperformed morphological prey analysis regarding species‐specific prey identification in faeces of Eurasian otters. Additionally, a wide spectrum of fish species was detected in field‐collected faecal samples and regurgitated pellets of Common Kingfishers and Great Cormorants, demonstrating the broad applicability of the approach. In conclusion, this multiplex PCR system provides an efficient, easy to use and cost‐effective tool for assessing the trophic ecology of piscivores in Central Europe. Furthermore, the multiplex PCRs and the primers described therein will be applicable wherever DNA of the targeted fish species needs to be detected at high sensitivity and specificity. John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2015-06-21 2016-01 /pmc/articles/PMC4744964/ /pubmed/26053612 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1755-0998.12436 Text en © 2015 The Authors. Molecular Ecology Resources Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle RESOURCE ARTICLES
Thalinger, Bettina
Oehm, Johannes
Mayr, Hannes
Obwexer, Armin
Zeisler, Christiane
Traugott, Michael
Molecular prey identification in Central European piscivores
title Molecular prey identification in Central European piscivores
title_full Molecular prey identification in Central European piscivores
title_fullStr Molecular prey identification in Central European piscivores
title_full_unstemmed Molecular prey identification in Central European piscivores
title_short Molecular prey identification in Central European piscivores
title_sort molecular prey identification in central european piscivores
topic RESOURCE ARTICLES
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4744964/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26053612
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1755-0998.12436
work_keys_str_mv AT thalingerbettina molecularpreyidentificationincentraleuropeanpiscivores
AT oehmjohannes molecularpreyidentificationincentraleuropeanpiscivores
AT mayrhannes molecularpreyidentificationincentraleuropeanpiscivores
AT obwexerarmin molecularpreyidentificationincentraleuropeanpiscivores
AT zeislerchristiane molecularpreyidentificationincentraleuropeanpiscivores
AT traugottmichael molecularpreyidentificationincentraleuropeanpiscivores