10.5061/DRYAD.KM6PH
Burgar, Joanna M.
Murdoch University
Murray, Daithi C.
Murdoch University
Craig, Michael D.
University of Western Australia
Murdoch University
Haile, James
Murdoch University
Houston, Jayne
Murdoch University
Stokes, Vicki
Murdoch University
Bunce, Michael
Murdoch University
Data from: Who’s for dinner? High-throughput sequencing reveals bat diet
differentiation in a biodiversity hotspot where prey taxonomy is largely
undescribed
Dryad
dataset
2013
Predator Prey Interactions
Nyctophilus gouldi
Vespadelus regulus
Diet Analysis
Wildlife Management
Chalinolobus gouldii
2013-09-18T14:23:13Z
2013-09-18T14:23:13Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.12531
932740 bytes
1
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Effective management and conservation of biodiversity requires
understanding of predator–prey relationships to ensure the continued
existence of both predator and prey populations. Gathering dietary data
from predatory species, such as insectivorous bats, often presents
logistical challenges, further exacerbated in biodiversity hot spots
because prey items are highly speciose, yet their taxonomy is largely
undescribed. We used high-throughput sequencing (HTS) and bioinformatic
analyses to phylogenetically group DNA sequences into molecular
operational taxonomic units (MOTUs) to examine predator–prey dynamics of
three sympatric insectivorous bat species in the biodiversity hotspot of
south-western Australia. We could only assign between 4% and 20% of MOTUs
to known genera or species, depending on the method used, underscoring the
importance of examining dietary diversity irrespective of taxonomic
knowledge in areas lacking a comprehensive genetic reference database.
MOTU analysis confirmed that resource partitioning occurred, with dietary
divergence positively related to the ecomorphological divergence of the
three bat species. We predicted that bat species' diets would
converge during times of high energetic requirements, that is, the
maternity season for females and the mating season for males. There was an
interactive effect of season on female, but not male, bat species'
diets, although small sample sizes may have limited our findings. Contrary
to our predictions, females of two ecomorphologically similar species
showed dietary convergence during the mating season rather than the
maternity season. HTS-based approaches can help elucidate complex
predator–prey relationships in highly speciose regions, which should
facilitate the conservation of biodiversity in genetically uncharacterized
areas, such as biodiversity hotspots.
Table 1_withMOTUTaxonomic assignment of MOTUs through the BOLD online
identification engine using two different methods: the neighbour-joining
hierarchical tree-based ‘strict’ (S) and the sequence similarity ‘best
match’ (BM) approach (Ross et al. 2008). Only sequences with >98%
similarity were considered as a possible match: >98% for a “genus”
match and >99% for a “species” match. For the BM approach, only
matches with sampling sites in Australia were considered; * indicates
sampling sites in south-western WA while ** indicates sampling sites in WA
but outside of the south-west. Species highlighted in grey are thought to
use hearing based defences against the echolocation calls of bats. This
table is a modified version of Table 1 and includes each associated
MOTU.TableS1_Bat_Species_TraitsTable listing bat species
traits.TableS2_Bdiversityβ-diversity results for all MOTUs and subset of
MOTUs.TableS3_SitesTable with geographic coordinates of data collection
locations.TableS4_CNV_unweighted_unifracInput table used for analyses
within R – unweighted unifrac distance
matrix.TableS5_Species_AccumulationInput table used for analyses within R
– prey (species) accumulation
data.TableS5_ALL_SpAccumPlot.csvTableS6_Chao1_PD_RarefactionInput table
used for analyses within R – Chao1 and PD
rarefaction.TableS6_CHAO_PD_Rarefaction.csvAppendixS1_Molecular
methodsDetailed molecular methods for DNA extraction and amplification and
HTS sequencing.Appendix S1_Molecular
methods.pdfAppendixS2_Aligned_sequencesAlignment of representative
sequences generated for this
study.AppendixS2_rep_set_aligned.fastaAppendixS3_R_scriptScripts used for
analyses in R.AppendixS4_QIIME_scriptScripts used for analyses in
QIIME.AppendixS5_MapMapping file for QIIME and R
analyses.AppendixS6_1MOTUbatList of MOTUs found in only one
sample.AppendixS7_DNA SequencesTwo fasta files containing all arthropod
DNA sequences (seqs.fna) and the representative DNA sequences for each
Molecular Operational Taxonomic Unit (MOTU)
(rep_set.fna).DNA_sequences.zip
Western Australia
32°36’S
116°07’E
Huntly minesite