Abstract
We present a UV-fluorescent dye-based prey marking technique, using three different dyes, with later detection of the dyes in the guts of predators using a micro-plate fluorescent reader. By using this new method of detecting dyes based on their different excitation and emission characteristics it is possible to simultaneously screen 96 samples for multiple fluorescent-markers in less than 30 minutes. The marking is stable, cheap, non-toxic and had no effect on the choice of the carabid predator Pterostichus melanarius between marked and unmarked fly larvae (Musca domestica). Different fluorescent dyes provide variable detection intervals up to 100% detectability at 96 h post-ingestion by this predator. The simple marking, extraction and detection methods presented could be used in food web research to map individual trophic links and predator preference for different types of prey.
Highlights
Many different methods have been developed and used previously to study the diet of invertebrate predators and predator-prey interactions
In the prey choice experiment, where fly larvae dyed with one of three UV-fluorescent dyes or non-dyed controls were offered to the carabid predator and scavenger P. melanarius, the beetles showed no preference for the control larvae or those marked with any of the three dyes
To test whether a marked slug population was differently affected by predation compared to a non-dyed population, slugs were offered to P. melanarius in a cage arena choice experiment
Summary
Many different methods have been developed and used previously to study the diet of invertebrate predators and predator-prey interactions. Visual gut content analyses were later replaced by immunological and more recently by PCR based approaches (reviewed in Symondson, 2002a, b; King et al, 2008) identifying prey proteins or DNA in a sample of the gut contents of a predator. Even though these methods can provide accurate and valuable information on predator feeding habits their use is limited by cost and time/labour spent on sample extraction and analysis (PCR) or by a laborious and costly specific antibody development
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