Metabarcoding analysis of trophic sources and linkages in the plankton community of the Kuroshio and neighboring waters

Trophic sources and pathways supporting early life stages are crucial for survival of forage fishes recruiting around the oligotrophic and unproductive Kuroshio. However, information is limited for the Kuroshio planktonic food web and its trophodynamics because of its high biodiversity. Here, we explore trophic sources and linkages in the Kuroshio plankton community using metabarcoding analysis of gut-content DNA for 22 mesozooplankton groups. The major prey was dinoflagellates and calanoids for omnivorous groups, and calanoids and gelatinous organisms for carnivorous groups. Larvaceans and hydrozoans were the most frequently appeared prey for both omnivores and carnivores, whereas they were minor constituents of the available prey in water samples. Although calanoids overlapped as major prey items for both omnivores and carnivores because they were the most available, contributions from phytoplankton and gelatinous prey differed among taxonomic groups. Further analysis of the metabarcoding data showed that in addition to omnivorous copepods like calanoids, gelatinous groups like larvaceans and hydrozoans were important hubs in the planktonic food web with their multiple trophic linkages to many components. These findings suggest that gelatinous organisms are important as supplementary prey and provide evidence of niche segregation on trophic sources among mesozooplankton groups in the Kuroshio.