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Differences in dietary composition and preference maintained despite gene flow across a woodrat hybrid zone

1. Ecotones, characterized by adjacent yet distinct biotic communities, provide natural laboratories in which to investigate how environmental selection influences the ecology and evolution of organisms. For wild herbivores, differential plant availability across sharp ecotones may be an important s...

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Autores principales: Nielsen, Danny P., Matocq, Marjorie D.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8093690/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33976858
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.7399
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author Nielsen, Danny P.
Matocq, Marjorie D.
author_facet Nielsen, Danny P.
Matocq, Marjorie D.
author_sort Nielsen, Danny P.
collection PubMed
description 1. Ecotones, characterized by adjacent yet distinct biotic communities, provide natural laboratories in which to investigate how environmental selection influences the ecology and evolution of organisms. For wild herbivores, differential plant availability across sharp ecotones may be an important source of dietary‐based selection. 2. We studied small herbivore diet composition across a sharp ecotone where two species of woodrat, Neotoma bryanti and N. lepida, come into secondary contact with one another and hybridize. We quantified woodrat dietary preference through trnL metabarcoding of field‐collected fecal pellets and experimental choice trials. Despite gene flow, parental N. bryanti and N. lepida maintain distinct diets across this fine spatial scale, and across temporal scales that span both wet and dry conditions. 3. Neotoma bryanti maintained a more diverse diet, with Frangula californica (California coffeeberry) making up a large portion of its diet. Neotoma lepida maintains a less diverse diet, with Prunus fasciculata (desert almond) comprising more than half of its diet. Both F. californica and P. fasciculata are known to produce potentially toxic plant secondary compounds (PSCs), which should deter herbivory, yet these plants have relatively high nutritional value as measured by crude protein content. 4. Neotoma bryanti and N. lepida consumed F. californica and P. fasciculata, respectively, in greater abundance than these plants are available on the landscape—indicating dietary selection. Finally, experimental preference trials revealed that N. bryanti exhibited a preference for F. californica, while N. lepida exhibited a relatively stronger preference for P. fasciculata. We find that N. bryanti exhibit a generalist herbivore strategy relative to N. lepida, which exhibit a more specialized feeding strategy in this study system. 5. Our results suggest that woodrats respond to fine‐scale environmental differences in plant availability that may require different metabolic strategies in order to balance nutrient acquisition while minimizing exposure to potentially toxic PSCs.
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spelling pubmed-80936902021-05-10 Differences in dietary composition and preference maintained despite gene flow across a woodrat hybrid zone Nielsen, Danny P. Matocq, Marjorie D. Ecol Evol Original Research 1. Ecotones, characterized by adjacent yet distinct biotic communities, provide natural laboratories in which to investigate how environmental selection influences the ecology and evolution of organisms. For wild herbivores, differential plant availability across sharp ecotones may be an important source of dietary‐based selection. 2. We studied small herbivore diet composition across a sharp ecotone where two species of woodrat, Neotoma bryanti and N. lepida, come into secondary contact with one another and hybridize. We quantified woodrat dietary preference through trnL metabarcoding of field‐collected fecal pellets and experimental choice trials. Despite gene flow, parental N. bryanti and N. lepida maintain distinct diets across this fine spatial scale, and across temporal scales that span both wet and dry conditions. 3. Neotoma bryanti maintained a more diverse diet, with Frangula californica (California coffeeberry) making up a large portion of its diet. Neotoma lepida maintains a less diverse diet, with Prunus fasciculata (desert almond) comprising more than half of its diet. Both F. californica and P. fasciculata are known to produce potentially toxic plant secondary compounds (PSCs), which should deter herbivory, yet these plants have relatively high nutritional value as measured by crude protein content. 4. Neotoma bryanti and N. lepida consumed F. californica and P. fasciculata, respectively, in greater abundance than these plants are available on the landscape—indicating dietary selection. Finally, experimental preference trials revealed that N. bryanti exhibited a preference for F. californica, while N. lepida exhibited a relatively stronger preference for P. fasciculata. We find that N. bryanti exhibit a generalist herbivore strategy relative to N. lepida, which exhibit a more specialized feeding strategy in this study system. 5. Our results suggest that woodrats respond to fine‐scale environmental differences in plant availability that may require different metabolic strategies in order to balance nutrient acquisition while minimizing exposure to potentially toxic PSCs. John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2021-03-17 /pmc/articles/PMC8093690/ /pubmed/33976858 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.7399 Text en © 2021 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 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 Original Research
Nielsen, Danny P.
Matocq, Marjorie D.
Differences in dietary composition and preference maintained despite gene flow across a woodrat hybrid zone
title Differences in dietary composition and preference maintained despite gene flow across a woodrat hybrid zone
title_full Differences in dietary composition and preference maintained despite gene flow across a woodrat hybrid zone
title_fullStr Differences in dietary composition and preference maintained despite gene flow across a woodrat hybrid zone
title_full_unstemmed Differences in dietary composition and preference maintained despite gene flow across a woodrat hybrid zone
title_short Differences in dietary composition and preference maintained despite gene flow across a woodrat hybrid zone
title_sort differences in dietary composition and preference maintained despite gene flow across a woodrat hybrid zone
topic Original Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8093690/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33976858
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.7399
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