| Title |
DNA metabarcoding of nestling feces reveals provisioning of aquatic prey and resource partitioning among Neotropical migratory songbirds in a riparian habitat
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
Oecologia, April 2018
|
| DOI | 10.1007/s00442-018-4136-0 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Brian K. Trevelline, Tim Nuttle, Brandon D. Hoenig, Nathan L. Brouwer, Brady A. Porter, Steven C. Latta |
| Abstract |
Riparian habitats are characterized by substantial flows of emergent aquatic insects that cross the stream-forest interface and provide an important source of prey for insectivorous birds. The increased availability of prey arising from aquatic subsidies attracts high densities of Neotropical migratory songbirds that are thought to exploit emergent aquatic insects as a nestling food resource; however, the prey preferences and diets of birds in these communities are only broadly understood. In this study, we utilized DNA metabarcoding to investigate the extent to which three syntopic species of migratory songbirds-Acadian Flycatcher, Louisiana Waterthrush, and Wood Thrush-breeding in Appalachian riparian habitats (Pennsylvania, USA) exploit and partition aquatic prey subsidies as a nestling food resource. Despite substantial differences in adult foraging strategies, nearly every nestling in this study consumed aquatic taxa, suggesting that aquatic subsidies are an important prey resource for Neotropical migrants nesting in riparian habitats. While our results revealed significant interspecific dietary niche divergence, the diets of Acadian Flycatcher and Wood Thrush nestlings were strikingly similar and exhibited significantly more overlap than expected. These results suggest that the dietary niches of Neotropical migrants with divergent foraging strategies may converge due to the opportunistic provisioning of non-limiting prey resources in riparian habitats. In addition to providing the first application of DNA metabarcoding to investigate diet in a community of Neotropical migrants, this study emphasizes the importance of aquatic subsidies in supporting breeding songbirds and improves our understanding of how anthropogenic disturbances to riparian habitats may negatively impact long-term avian conservation. |
X Demographics
The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 33 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 10 | 30% |
| United Kingdom | 6 | 18% |
| New Zealand | 1 | 3% |
| Belgium | 1 | 3% |
| Canada | 1 | 3% |
| Unknown | 14 | 42% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Members of the public | 18 | 55% |
| Scientists | 14 | 42% |
| Unknown | 1 | 3% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 116 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Unknown | 116 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 28 | 24% |
| Student > Master | 21 | 18% |
| Researcher | 17 | 15% |
| Student > Bachelor | 10 | 9% |
| Student > Doctoral Student | 6 | 5% |
| Other | 16 | 14% |
| Unknown | 18 | 16% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 48 | 41% |
| Environmental Science | 24 | 21% |
| Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 10 | 9% |
| Nursing and Health Professions | 3 | 3% |
| Business, Management and Accounting | 1 | <1% |
| Other | 5 | 4% |
| Unknown | 25 | 22% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 19. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 31 January 2019.
All research outputs
#1,943,109
of 25,452,734 outputs
Outputs from Oecologia
#243
of 4,509 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#41,172
of 343,255 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Oecologia
#6
of 67 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,452,734 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 92nd percentile: it's in the top 10% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 4,509 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 7.2. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 94% of its peers.
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We're also able to compare this research output to 67 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 92% of its contemporaries.