Abstract
Stable isotope and fatty acid signatures of biomaterials can provide important information about the dietary niche of animals. Stable isotope and fatty acid signatures differ between aquatic and terrestrial food webs, and therefore can be used to assess the aquatic and terrestrial contributions to the diets of species. We studied faecal samples of three co-occurring bat species with known differences in feeding preferences. The aim was to assess whether stable isotope and fatty acid signatures of faeces can be used to determine feeding preferences. We used bat faeces because they can be easily and non-invasively collected. We hypothesised that faeces stable isotope and fatty acid signatures will reveal the terrestrial, aquatic and mixed feeding niches of Myotis myotis, M. daubentonii, and M. mystacinus, respectively. As predicted, the faeces of M. myotis were characterized by higher δ 13C values and higher concentrations of linoleic acid and total ω6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), which are typically higher in terrestrial food webs. The faeces of M. daubentonii had higher δ 15Ν values and higher concentrations of docosahexaenoic acid and total ω3 PUFAs, characteristic features of aquatic systems. Myotis mystacinus faeces had intermediate δ 15Ν values and concentrations of both types of fatty acids. Our results show that analysing stable isotope and/or fatty acid signatures of faeces provides a promising, non-invasive tool to study the feeding ecology of bats and to assess aquatic-terrestrial interactions.
Highlights
Biochemical tracers, such as stable isotopes and fatty acids, can provide useful information on feeding habits and ecological niches of animals [1]
Myotis myotis and M. mystacinus differed in their d13C values (ANOVA, post-hoc test, F2,68 = 8.37, p,0.001), while the d13C values for M. daubentonii did not differ from M. myotis (ANOVA, post-hoc test, F2,68 = 8.37, p = 0.097), nor from M. mystacinus (ANOVA, post-hoc test, F2,68 = 8.37, p = 0.262) (Table 1)
The general linear models (GLMs) showed that variation in the d13C and d15N values was explained both by species identity and date (Table 3)
Summary
Biochemical tracers, such as stable isotopes and fatty acids, can provide useful information on feeding habits and ecological niches of animals [1]. They can help to understand food web complexity, the coexistence of species, and to elucidate mechanisms maintaining species diversity. Identifying an animal’s preferred habitats is crucial for establishing conservation management plans. Since these tracers are different between different habitats, they can be applied to explore species’ flexibility in changing feeding habitats, for example from terrestrial to aquatic. Biochemical tracers can be applied to investigate species’ dependence on aquatic resources, and to assess the degree of aquatic subsidies into terrestrial systems and vice versa, which is important for the understanding of the ecosystem functioning
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