Dataset Information

Integrating stomach content and stable isotope analyses to quantify the diets of pygoscelid penguins.

ABSTRACT: Stomach content analysis (SCA) and more recently stable isotope analysis (SIA) integrated with isotopic mixing models have become common methods for dietary studies and provide insight into the foraging ecology of seabirds. However, both methods have drawbacks and biases that may result in difficulties in quantifying inter-annual and species-specific differences in diets. We used these two methods to simultaneously quantify the chick-rearing diet of Chinstrap (Pygoscelis antarctica) and Gentoo (P. papua) penguins and highlight methods of integrating SCA data to increase accuracy of diet composition estimates using SIA. SCA biomass estimates were highly variable and underestimated the importance of soft-bodied prey such as fish. Two-source, isotopic mixing model predictions were less variable and identified inter-annual and species-specific differences in the relative amounts of fish and krill in penguin diets not readily apparent using SCA. In contrast, multi-source isotopic mixing models had difficulty estimating the dietary contribution of fish species occupying similar trophic levels without refinement using SCA-derived otolith data. Overall, our ability to track inter-annual and species-specific differences in penguin diets using SIA was enhanced by integrating SCA data to isotopic mixing modes in three ways: 1) selecting appropriate prey sources, 2) weighting combinations of isotopically similar prey in two-source mixing models and 3) refining predicted contributions of isotopically similar prey in multi-source models.

SUBMITTER: Polito MJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3203888 | biostudies-literature | 2011

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Integrating stomach content and stable isotope analyses to quantify the diets of pygoscelid penguins.

Polito Michael J MJ Trivelpiece Wayne Z WZ Karnovsky Nina J NJ Ng Elizabeth E Patterson William P WP Emslie Steven D SD

PloS one 20111028 10

Stomach content analysis (SCA) and more recently stable isotope analysis (SIA) integrated with isotopic mixing models have become common methods for dietary studies and provide insight into the foraging ecology of seabirds. However, both methods have drawbacks and biases that may result in difficulties in quantifying inter-annual and species-specific differences in diets. We used these two methods to simultaneously quantify the chick-rearing diet of Chinstrap (Pygoscelis antarctica) and Gentoo ( ...[more]

PMID: 22053199

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Project description:Consumption of frog legs is increasing worldwide, with potentially dramatic effects for ecosystems. More and more functioning frog farms are reported to exist. However, due to the lack of reliable methods to distinguish farmed from wild-caught individuals, the origin of frogs in the international trade is often uncertain. Here, we present a new methodological approach to this problem. We investigated the isotopic composition of legally traded frog legs from suppliers in Vietnam and Indonesia. Muscle and bone tissue samples were examined for ?15N, ?13C, and ?18O stable isotope compositions, to elucidate the conditions under which the frogs grew up. We used DNA barcoding (16S rRNA) to verify species identities. We identified three traded species (Hoplobatrachus rugulosus, Fejervarya cancrivora and Limnonectes macrodon); species identities were partly deviating from package labeling. Isotopic values of ?15N and ?18O showed significant differences between species and country of origin. Based on low ?15N composition and generally little variation in stable isotope values, our results imply that frogs from Vietnam were indeed farmed. In contrast, the frogs from the Indonesian supplier likely grew up under natural conditions, indicated by higher ?15N values and stronger variability in the stable isotope composition. Our results indicate that stable isotope analyses seem to be a useful tool to distinguish between naturally growing and intensively farmed frogs. We believe that this method can be used to improve the control in the international trade of frog legs, as well as for other biological products, thus supporting farming activities and decreasing pressure on wild populations. However, we examined different species from different countries and had no access to samples of individuals with confirmed origin and living conditions. Therefore, we suggest improving this method further with individuals of known origin and history, preferably including samples of the respective nutritive bases.

Dataset Information

Integrating stomach content and stable isotope analyses to quantify the diets of pygoscelid penguins.

Publications

Integrating stomach content and stable isotope analyses to quantify the diets of pygoscelid penguins.

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