Dataset Information

Data exploration on diet, and composition, energy value and functional division of prey items ingested by White Storks Ciconia ciconia in south-western Poland: Dietary variation due to land cover, reproductive output and colonial breeding.

ABSTRACT: The dataset presented in this data paper supports "Linking land cover satellite data with dietary variation and reproductive output in an opportunistic forager: Arable land use can boost an ontogenetic trophic bottleneck in the White Stork Ciconia ciconia" (Orłowski et al. 2019) [1]. Analysis of data on diet and prey composition based on an investigation of 165 pellets of White Storks Ciconia ciconia sampled from 52 nests showed that their diet was based primarily on 'eurytopic prey' (embracing taxa from grassland and a variety of non-cropped habitats), the biomass contribution of which in the diet was disproportionately (3-4-fold) higher than the percentage of available corresponding habitats. Similarly, prey items from water/wetland sites prevailed over the availability of corresponding habitats. The opposite pattern characterized prey taxa from arable habitats and forests, the contribution of which was lower than the availability of the corresponding habitats. The total energy content per pellet (calculated by summing the energy content of all individual prey items across one specific prey group) was the most strongly correlated with the biomass of Orthoptera, thereafter with that of mammals, other vertebrates, earthworms and other invertebrates, but not with the biomass of Coleoptera. White Storks from nests of low productivity pairs (i.e. with 1-2 fledglings) consumed a significantly (up to two-fold) higher biomass of Coleoptera, Orthoptera and all invertebrates, which also translated into a higher total biomass and a higher total energy content compared to the diet of high-productivity pairs (i.e. with 3-4 fledglings). Our data, in particular those relating to energy content in a variety of invertebrate taxa, and their body mass and functional division in terms of habitat preferences should be useful for other researchers to calculate energy budgets of predatory animals living in agricultural landscapes in Europe.

SUBMITTER: Orlowski G

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6230975 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:Animals prefer to aggregate in patches with high abundance and availability of food resources. Group foragers typically receive information about food resources by monitoring external events and the behavior of neighbors. The Information Centre Hypothesis proposes that aggregations increase foraging activity levels as a result of social information provided by conspecifics. Increasing the foraging rate has as a result decreasing time devoted to anti-predator vigilance and may intensify competition among group members. Studies have shown that foraging activities are influenced by factors other than flock size, such as the number and foraging intensity of neighbors. To test these hypotheses, we examined the effect of number and foraging intensity of neighbors on the foraging activity levels (foraging rate, foraging effort, and foraging success rate) of the wintering Oriental Storks (Ciconia boyciana). In this study, we collected focal sampling data on the foraging behavior of storks at Shengjin Lake during winter from 2017 to 2019, controlling the effects of other variables (group identity, wintering years, and wintering periods). We found that foraging activity levels were higher in the presence of foraging neighbors than in their absence. Moreover, individuals adjusted their foraging activity levels according to social information gathered from the behavior of neighboring conspecifics. Focal individuals' foraging rate and foraging effort were positively correlated with the average foraging rate of neighbors. Their foraging success rate was not influenced by the average foraging rate and foraging success rate of neighbors; however, it was positively correlated with the average foraging effort of neighbors. In conclusion, foraging activity levels of individuals are primarily driven by the intensity of the foraging activity of neighbors. This result differs from the results of previous studies that suggested that flock size was the most important factor determining individual foraging activity levels.

Project description:Cnidarians (jellyfish, hydroids, sea anemones, and corals) possess a unique method for venom production, maintenance, and deployment through a decentralized system composed of different types of venom-filled stinging structures called nematocysts. In many species, nematocyst types are distributed heterogeneously across functionally distinct tissues. This has led to a prediction that different nematocyst types contain specific venom components. The colonial hydrozoan, Hydractinia symbiolongicarpus, is an ideal system to study the functional distribution of nematocyst types and their venoms, given that they display a division of labor through functionally distinct polyps within the colony. Here, we characterized the composition and distribution of nematocysts (cnidome) in the different polyp types and show that the feeding polyp (gastrozooid) has a distinct cnidome compared to the reproductive (gonozooid) and predatory polyp (dactylozooid). We generated a nematocyst-specific reporter line to track nematocyst development (nematogenesis) in H. symbiolongicarpus, and were able to confirm that nematogenesis primarily occurs in the mid-region of the gastrozooid and throughout stolons (tubes of epithelia that connect the polyps in the colony). This reporter line enabled us to isolate a nematocyst-specific lineage of cells for de novo transcriptome assembly, annotate venom-like genes (VLGs) and determine differential expression (DE) across polyp types. We show that a majority of VLGs are upregulated in gastrozooids, consistent with it being the primary site of active nematogenesis. However, despite gastrozooids producing more nematocysts, we found a number of VLGs significantly upregulated in dactylozooids, suggesting that these VLGs may be important for prey-capture. Our transgenic Hydractinia reporter line provides an opportunity to explore the complex interplay between venom composition, nematocyst diversity, and ecological partitioning in a colonial hydrozoan that displays a division of labor.

Dataset Information

Data exploration on diet, and composition, energy value and functional division of prey items ingested by White Storks Ciconia ciconia in south-western Poland: Dietary variation due to land cover, reproductive output and colonial breeding.

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