Abstract
The study of animal diet and feeding behaviour is a fundamental tool for the illustration of the ecological role of species in the ecosystem. However, size and quality of food intake samples make it hard for researchers to describe the diet composition of many small species. In our study, we exploited genomic tools for the analysis of the diet composition of the Savi’s pine vole (Microtus savii) using DNA barcoding and qPCR techniques for the identification of ingested plant species retrieved from stomach contents. In contrast with previous studies, we found that, despite being a fossorial species, the Savi’s pine vole is a selective feeder that undergoes intense superficial activity in search for food. In addition, our study shows that with a a priori knowledge of the candidate plant species included in animal diet, qPCR is a powerful tool to assess presence/absence, frequency of occurrence and electivity of ingested species. We conclude that this approach offers new opportunities to implement the analysis of food selection in small animals, thereby revealing a detailed picture of plant-animal interactions.
Highlights
The study of animal diet and feeding behaviour is a fundamental tool for the illustration of the ecological role of species in the ecosystem
Our study shows that with a relatively comprehensive a priori knowledge of the candidate plant species an animal can possibly feed upon, the employment of Quantitative PCR (qPCR) can provide a good estimate of presence/absence, frequency of occurrence and electivity of each ingested species
Our results indicate that Taqman assays based on short fragments of the rcbL gene can perform relatively well as DNA barcodes even in significantly degraded samples such as those found in stomach contents[28,72]
Summary
The study of animal diet and feeding behaviour is a fundamental tool for the illustration of the ecological role of species in the ecosystem. Food web chains illustrate the importance of each species in maintaining communities’ integrity and explain how one species can affect the growth rate of other species populations[1] Despite their restrained body size, herbivorous and granivorous rodents, occurring in great numbers worldwide, can significantly alter the species composition of the plant communities on which they feed, triggering important cascading effects through the trophic levels. For this reason, rodents are considered keystone species, capable of shaping the structure and function of ecosystems, making their diet and feeding behavior subject to ecological research[2,3]. A combination of PCR amplification and HTS (pyrosequencing and sequencing by synthesis) has been used to assess the diet composition of several herbivorous species (e.g.28–34)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
