DNA metabarcoding confirms primary targets and breadth of diet for coral reef butterflyfishes
Understanding species-specific resource requirements is paramount in managing and protecting biodiversity in a world where environmental quality is in decline. Dietary data can inform predator–prey relationships and how changes in prey availability impact different species. However, for many coral r...
Gespeichert in:
Hauptverfasser: | , , , , , , , , , |
---|---|
Format: | Dataset |
Sprache: | eng |
Schlagworte: | |
Online-Zugang: | Volltext bestellen |
Tags: |
Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
|
Zusammenfassung: | Understanding species-specific resource requirements is paramount in
managing and protecting biodiversity in a world where environmental
quality is in decline. Dietary data can inform predator–prey relationships
and how changes in prey availability impact different species. However,
for many coral reef fishes, prey and predatory events can be difficult to
observe and identify, both in situ and within examined stomach samples.
Here we applied DNA metabarcoding of stomach content samples for eleven
Red Sea butterflyfish species to identify the diversity of dietary
components that these primarily benthic feeding fish consume across coral
reefs. Detections based on 18S and COI sequences from partially digested
stomach contents significantly increased the resolution and diversity of
the known diet for this group of fish, which included cryptic prey that
are difficult to visually document due to soft parts or morphological
ambiguity. In addition to scleractinian corals and other Cnidaria, the
obligate corallivore species fed on a wide range of benthic organisms,
whereas facultative species displayed a broader diet with crustaceans,
tunicates, and worms contributing to samples. While a number of
individuals contained DNA that could not be confidently identified using
this method, the proportion of unidentifiable sequences was relatively low
across butterflyfish species. The COI marker identified the importance of
soft corals in the diet for two hard coral specialists; Chaetodon
melannotus and Chaetodon semilarvatus, with soft coral detected in over
half of the individuals and contributing significantly to the number of
DNA sequence reads within their gut. Notably, five prey items identified
to the species level were detected that are currently not documented in
the Red Sea. Our analysis revealed that the diet of different species of
butterflyfish significantly overlaps, with all species deriving most of
their diet from the phylum Cnidaria (hard and soft coral, anemones) and
symbiotic Symbiodiniaceae algae. Furthermore, accumulation curves suggest
that all study species may feed on an even greater fraction of the
benthos, likely driven by the availability and diversity of each
individual/pair’s associated territory. This approach increases the known
dietary resolution and diversity of these key reef fishes and further
enhances our understanding between butterflyfish and benthic organisms. |
---|---|
DOI: | 10.5061/dryad.4b8gthtdb |