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Complementary methods assessing short and long-term prey of a marine top predator ‒ Application to the grey seal-fishery conflict in the Baltic Sea

The growing grey seal (Halichoerus grypus) population in the Baltic Sea has created conflicts with local fisheries, comparable to similar emerging problems worldwide. Adequate information on the foraging habits is a requirement for responsible management of the seal population. We investigated the a...

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Autores principales: Tverin, Malin, Esparza-Salas, Rodrigo, Strömberg, Annika, Tang, Patrik, Kokkonen, Iiris, Herrero, Annika, Kauhala, Kaarina, Karlsson, Olle, Tiilikainen, Raisa, Vetemaa, Markus, Sinisalo, Tuula, Käkelä, Reijo, Lundström, Karl
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6314633/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30601857
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0208694
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author Tverin, Malin
Esparza-Salas, Rodrigo
Strömberg, Annika
Tang, Patrik
Kokkonen, Iiris
Herrero, Annika
Kauhala, Kaarina
Karlsson, Olle
Tiilikainen, Raisa
Vetemaa, Markus
Sinisalo, Tuula
Käkelä, Reijo
Lundström, Karl
author_facet Tverin, Malin
Esparza-Salas, Rodrigo
Strömberg, Annika
Tang, Patrik
Kokkonen, Iiris
Herrero, Annika
Kauhala, Kaarina
Karlsson, Olle
Tiilikainen, Raisa
Vetemaa, Markus
Sinisalo, Tuula
Käkelä, Reijo
Lundström, Karl
author_sort Tverin, Malin
collection PubMed
description The growing grey seal (Halichoerus grypus) population in the Baltic Sea has created conflicts with local fisheries, comparable to similar emerging problems worldwide. Adequate information on the foraging habits is a requirement for responsible management of the seal population. We investigated the applicability of available dietary assessment methods by comparing morphological analysis and DNA metabarcoding of gut contents (short-term diet; n = 129/125 seals, respectively), and tissue chemical markers i.e. fatty acid (FA) profiles of blubber and stable isotopes (SIs) of liver and muscle (mid- or long-term diet; n = 108 seals for the FA and SI markers). The methods provided complementary information. Short-term methods indicated prey species and revealed dietary differences between age groups and areas but for limited time period. In the central Baltic, herring was the main prey, while in the Gulf of Finland percid and cyprinid species together comprised the largest part of the diet. Perch was also an important prey in the western Baltic Proper. The DNA analysis provided firm identification of many prey species, which were neglected or identified only at species group level by morphological analysis. Liver SIs distinguished spatial foraging patterns and identified potentially migrated individuals, whereas blubber FAs distinguished individuals frequently utilizing certain types of prey. Tissue chemical markers of adult males suggested specialized feeding to certain areas and prey, which suggest that these individuals are especially prone to cause economic losses for fisheries. We recommend combined analyses of gut contents and tissue chemical markers as dietary monitoring methodology of aquatic top predators to support an optimal ecosystem-based management.
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spelling pubmed-63146332019-01-11 Complementary methods assessing short and long-term prey of a marine top predator ‒ Application to the grey seal-fishery conflict in the Baltic Sea Tverin, Malin Esparza-Salas, Rodrigo Strömberg, Annika Tang, Patrik Kokkonen, Iiris Herrero, Annika Kauhala, Kaarina Karlsson, Olle Tiilikainen, Raisa Vetemaa, Markus Sinisalo, Tuula Käkelä, Reijo Lundström, Karl PLoS One Research Article The growing grey seal (Halichoerus grypus) population in the Baltic Sea has created conflicts with local fisheries, comparable to similar emerging problems worldwide. Adequate information on the foraging habits is a requirement for responsible management of the seal population. We investigated the applicability of available dietary assessment methods by comparing morphological analysis and DNA metabarcoding of gut contents (short-term diet; n = 129/125 seals, respectively), and tissue chemical markers i.e. fatty acid (FA) profiles of blubber and stable isotopes (SIs) of liver and muscle (mid- or long-term diet; n = 108 seals for the FA and SI markers). The methods provided complementary information. Short-term methods indicated prey species and revealed dietary differences between age groups and areas but for limited time period. In the central Baltic, herring was the main prey, while in the Gulf of Finland percid and cyprinid species together comprised the largest part of the diet. Perch was also an important prey in the western Baltic Proper. The DNA analysis provided firm identification of many prey species, which were neglected or identified only at species group level by morphological analysis. Liver SIs distinguished spatial foraging patterns and identified potentially migrated individuals, whereas blubber FAs distinguished individuals frequently utilizing certain types of prey. Tissue chemical markers of adult males suggested specialized feeding to certain areas and prey, which suggest that these individuals are especially prone to cause economic losses for fisheries. We recommend combined analyses of gut contents and tissue chemical markers as dietary monitoring methodology of aquatic top predators to support an optimal ecosystem-based management. Public Library of Science 2019-01-02 /pmc/articles/PMC6314633/ /pubmed/30601857 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0208694 Text en © 2019 Tverin et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ 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 author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Tverin, Malin
Esparza-Salas, Rodrigo
Strömberg, Annika
Tang, Patrik
Kokkonen, Iiris
Herrero, Annika
Kauhala, Kaarina
Karlsson, Olle
Tiilikainen, Raisa
Vetemaa, Markus
Sinisalo, Tuula
Käkelä, Reijo
Lundström, Karl
Complementary methods assessing short and long-term prey of a marine top predator ‒ Application to the grey seal-fishery conflict in the Baltic Sea
title Complementary methods assessing short and long-term prey of a marine top predator ‒ Application to the grey seal-fishery conflict in the Baltic Sea
title_full Complementary methods assessing short and long-term prey of a marine top predator ‒ Application to the grey seal-fishery conflict in the Baltic Sea
title_fullStr Complementary methods assessing short and long-term prey of a marine top predator ‒ Application to the grey seal-fishery conflict in the Baltic Sea
title_full_unstemmed Complementary methods assessing short and long-term prey of a marine top predator ‒ Application to the grey seal-fishery conflict in the Baltic Sea
title_short Complementary methods assessing short and long-term prey of a marine top predator ‒ Application to the grey seal-fishery conflict in the Baltic Sea
title_sort complementary methods assessing short and long-term prey of a marine top predator ‒ application to the grey seal-fishery conflict in the baltic sea
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6314633/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30601857
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0208694
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