Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, Japan.
Center for Environmental Biology and Ecosystem Studies, National Institute for Environmental Studies, Onogawa, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.
PLoS One. 2018 Apr 9;13(4):e0195385. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0195385. eCollection 2018.
The foraging ecology of pelagic seabirds is difficult to characterize because of their large foraging areas. In the face of this difficulty, DNA metabarcoding may be a useful approach to analyze diet compositions and foraging behaviors. Using this approach, we investigated the diet composition and its seasonal variation of a common seabird species on the Ogasawara Islands, Japan: the wedge-tailed shearwater Ardenna pacifica. We collected fecal samples during the prebreeding (N = 73) and rearing (N = 96) periods. The diet composition of wedge-tailed shearwater was analyzed by Ion Torrent sequencing using two universal polymerase chain reaction primers for the 12S and 16S mitochondrial DNA regions that targeted vertebrates and mollusks, respectively. The results of a BLAST search of obtained sequences detected 31 and 1 vertebrate and mollusk taxa, respectively. The results of the diet composition analysis showed that wedge-tailed shearwaters frequently consumed deep-sea fishes throughout the sampling season, indicating the importance of these fishes as a stable food resource. However, there was a marked seasonal shift in diet, which may reflect seasonal changes in food resource availability and wedge-tailed shearwater foraging behavior. The collected data regarding the shearwater diet may be useful for in situ conservation efforts. Future research that combines DNA metabarcoding with other tools, such as data logging, may provide further insight into the foraging ecology of pelagic seabirds.
远洋海鸟的觅食生态学难以描述，因为它们的觅食区域很大。面对这一困难，DNA 代谢组学可能是一种有用的方法来分析饮食组成和觅食行为。使用这种方法，我们调查了日本小笠原群岛上一种常见海鸟——楔尾鸥 Ardenna pacifica 的饮食组成及其季节性变化。我们在繁殖前期（N = 73）和育雏期（N = 96）收集了粪便样本。通过 Ion Torrent 测序，使用针对脊椎动物和软体动物的两个通用聚合酶链反应引物（分别针对线粒体 DNA 的 12S 和 16S 区域）分析了楔尾鸥的饮食组成。获得的序列的 BLAST 搜索结果分别检测到 31 和 1 种脊椎动物和软体动物分类群。饮食组成分析的结果表明，楔尾鸥在整个采样季节经常食用深海鱼类，表明这些鱼类是一种稳定的食物资源。然而，饮食存在明显的季节性变化，这可能反映了食物资源可利用性和楔尾鸥觅食行为的季节性变化。收集的有关海鸥饮食的数据可能对就地保护工作有用。未来结合 DNA 代谢组学和其他工具（如数据记录）的研究可能会进一步深入了解远洋海鸟的觅食生态学。
