DNA metabarcoding suggests adaptive seasonal variation of individual trophic traits in a critically endangered fish
2022
Villsen, Kurt | Corse, Emmanuel | Meglécz, Emese | Archambaud-Suard, Gaït | Vignes, Hélène | Ereskovsky, Alexander | Chappaz, Rémi | Dubut, Vincent | Institut méditerranéen de biodiversité et d'écologie marine et continentale (IMBE) ; Avignon Université (AU)-Aix Marseille Université (AMU)-Institut de recherche pour le développement [IRD] : UMR237-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) | Risques, Ecosystèmes, Vulnérabilité, Environnement, Résilience (RECOVER) ; Aix Marseille Université (AMU)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE) | Institut Agro - Montpellier SupAgro ; Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement (Institut Agro) | Agence de l'Eau Rhone-Mediterranee-Corse | Conseil Regional Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes | Region Provence-Alpes-Cote d'AzurRegion Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes | Direction Regionale pour l'Environnement, l'Amenagement et le Logement PACA (DREAL PACA) | Ecole Doctorale des Sciences de l'Environnement (Aix Marseille Universite)ED 251 | Electricite de France (EDF)
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Show more [+] Less [-]English. Dietary studies are critical for understanding foraging strategies and have important applications in conservation and habitat management. We applied a robust metabarcoding protocol to characterize the diet of the critically endangered freshwater fish Zingel asper (the Rhone streber). We conducted modelling and simulation analyses to identify and characterize some of the drivers of individual trophic trait variation in this species. We found that population density and ontogeny had minor effects on the trophic niche of Z. asper. Instead, our results suggest that the majority of trophic niche variation was driven by seasonal variation in ecological opportunity. The total trophic niche width of Z. asper seasonally expanded to include a broader range of prey. Furthermore, null model simulations revealed that the increase of between-individual variation in autumn indicates that Z. asper become more opportunistic relative to summer and spring, rather than being associated with a seasonal specialization of individuals. Overall, our results suggest an adaptive variation of individual trophic traits in Z. asper: the species mainly consumes a few ephemeropteran taxa (Baetis fuscatus and Ecdyonurus) but seems to be capable of adapting its foraging strategy to maintain its body condition. This study illustrates how metabarcoding data obtained from faeces can be validated and combined with individual-based modelling and simulation approaches to explore inter- and intrapopulational individual trophic traits variation and to test hypotheses in the conventional analytic framework of trophic ecology.
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