Trust your guts? The effect of gut section on diet composition and impact of Mus musculus on islands using metabarcoding

DNA metabarcoding is widely used to characterize the diet of species, and it becomes very relevant for biodiversity conservation, allowing the understanding of trophic chains and the impact of invasive species. The need for cost‐effective biodiversity monitoring methods fostered advances in this tec...

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Published in:	Ecology and evolution 2022-03, Vol.12 (3), p.e8638-n/a
Main Authors:	Pinho, Catarina J., Lopes, Evandro P., Paupério, Joana, Gomes, Isildo, Romeiras, Maria M., Vasconcelos, Raquel
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	Agricultural production Agroecology Applied Ecology Biodiversity Biodiversity Ecology Botany Cabo Verde Islands Composition Conservation Ecology Deoxyribonucleic acid Diet Digestive system Digestive tract DNA Economic impact Economic models Endangered & extinct species Entomology Evaluation Fibers Gastrointestinal system Gastrointestinal tract Genetic markers Genetics house mouse Intestine Introduced species Invasion Ecology Invasive species Invertebrates Large intestine Monitoring methods Morphology Mus musculus next‐generation sequencing Nonnative species Plant fibers plants Representations Rodents Small intestine Stomach Taxa Taxonomy Vegetable fibers Wildlife conservation Zoology
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Summary:	DNA metabarcoding is widely used to characterize the diet of species, and it becomes very relevant for biodiversity conservation, allowing the understanding of trophic chains and the impact of invasive species. The need for cost‐effective biodiversity monitoring methods fostered advances in this technique. One question that arises is which sample type provides a better diet representation. Therefore, with this study, we intended to evaluate if there were differences in diet estimates according to the section of the gastrointestinal tract analysed and which section(s) provided the best diet representation. Additionally, we intended to infer the ecological/economic impacts of an invader as a model of the potential effects in an originally mammal‐free ecosystem. We examined the gut contents of the house mouse Mus musculus introduced to Cabo Verde, considering three sections: stomach, small intestine, and large intestine. We applied a DNA‐metabarcoding approach using two genetic markers, one specific for plants and another for invertebrates. We showed that this invader consumed 131 taxa (73 plants and 58 invertebrates). We obtained significant differences in the composition of two of the three sections, with a higher incidence of invertebrates in the stomach and plants in the intestines. This may be due to stomach inhibitors acting on plants and/or to faster absorption of soft‐body invertebrates compared to the plant fibers in the intestines. We verified that the impact of this invader in the ecosystem is predominantly negative, as at least 50% of the ingested items were native, endemic, or economically important taxa, and only 19% of the diet items were exotics. Overall, results showed the need to analyse only two gastrointestinal tract sections to obtain robust diet data, increasing the cost‐effectiveness of the method. Furthermore, by uncovering the native taxa most frequently preyed on by mice, this DNA‐metabarcoding approach allowed us to evaluate efficiently which are at the highest risk. in Portuguese O metabarcoding de ADN é amplamente utilizado para a caracterização da dieta de espécies, e tornou‐se bastante relevante para a conservação da biodiversidade, permitindo a compreensão sobre cadeias tróficas e o impacto de espécies invasoras. A necessidade de métodos de monitorização da biodiversidade com uma boa relação custo‐benefício fomentaram avanços nesta técnica. Uma questão que se coloca é qual o tipo de amostra que fornece uma melhor representação
ISSN:	2045-7758 2045-7758