TY - JOUR

T1 - Sources of variation in small rodent trophic niche

T2 - New insights from DNA metabarcoding and stable isotope analysis

AU - Soininen, Eeva M.

AU - Ehrich, Dorothée

AU - Lecomte, Nicolas

AU - Yoccoz, Nigel G.

AU - Tarroux, Arnaud

AU - Berteaux, Dominique

AU - Gauthier, Gilles

AU - Gielly, Ludovic

AU - Brochmann, Christian

AU - Gussarova, Galina

AU - Ims, Rolf A.

N1 - Funding Information: This study was funded by the Research Council of Norway (projects ‘Ecosystem Finnmark’, ‘EcoFinn’, ‘Arctic Predators’, ‘BarFrost’ and a Leiv Eiriksson mobility grant to EMS); Oskar Huttunen foundation (PhD Scolarship for EMS) and University of Tromsø (mobility grant for EMS). Field work on Bylot Island was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada; International Polar Year program of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada; the Network of Centers of Excellence of Canada ArcticNet; Canada Research Chairs Program; Fonds Québécois de la Recherche sur la Nature et les Technologies and Northern Scientific Training Program (INAC) as well as the Canadian Foundation for Innovation. Copyright: Copyright 2014 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

PY - 2014/7

Y1 - 2014/7

N2 - Intraspecific competition for food is expected to increase the trophic niche width of consumers, defined here as their diet diversity, but this process has been little studied in herbivores. Population densities of small rodents fluctuate greatly, providing a good study model to evaluate effects of competition on trophic niche. We studied resource use in five arctic small rodent populations of four species combining DNA metabarcoding of stomach contents and stable isotope analysis (SIA). Our results suggest that for small rodents, the most pronounced effect of competition on trophic niche is due to increased use of secondary habitats and to habitat-specific diets, rather than an expansion of trophic niche in primary habitat. DNA metabarcoding and SIA provided complementary information about the composition and temporal variation of herbivore diets. Combing these two approaches requires caution, as the underlying processes causing observed patterns may differ between methodologies due to different spatiotemporal scales.

AB - Intraspecific competition for food is expected to increase the trophic niche width of consumers, defined here as their diet diversity, but this process has been little studied in herbivores. Population densities of small rodents fluctuate greatly, providing a good study model to evaluate effects of competition on trophic niche. We studied resource use in five arctic small rodent populations of four species combining DNA metabarcoding of stomach contents and stable isotope analysis (SIA). Our results suggest that for small rodents, the most pronounced effect of competition on trophic niche is due to increased use of secondary habitats and to habitat-specific diets, rather than an expansion of trophic niche in primary habitat. DNA metabarcoding and SIA provided complementary information about the composition and temporal variation of herbivore diets. Combing these two approaches requires caution, as the underlying processes causing observed patterns may differ between methodologies due to different spatiotemporal scales.

KW - animals

KW - carbon-13

KW - competition

KW - diet diversity

KW - DNA metabarcoding

KW - habitat use

KW - herbivore

KW - isotope ecology

KW - nitrogen-15

KW - trophic niche width

KW - tundra food web

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84905683148&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1080/10256016.2014.915824

DO - 10.1080/10256016.2014.915824

M3 - Article

C2 - 24830842

VL - 50

SP - 361

EP - 381

JO - Isotopes in Environmental and Health Studies

JF - Isotopes in Environmental and Health Studies

SN - 1025-6016

IS - 3

ER -