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dc.contributor.authorBrun, Loïc
dc.contributor.authorSchneider, Judith
dc.contributor.authorCarrió, Eduard Mas
dc.contributor.authorDongre, Pooja
dc.contributor.authorTaberlet, Pierre Robert Michel
dc.contributor.authorWaal, van de
dc.contributor.authorFumagalli, Luca
dc.date.accessioned2022-12-15T11:47:14Z
dc.date.available2022-12-15T11:47:14Z
dc.date.issued2022-10-01
dc.description.abstractAssessing the diet of wild animals reveals valuable information about their ecology and trophic relationships that may help elucidate dynamic interactions in ecosystems and forecast responses to environmental changes. Advances in molecular biology provide valuable research tools in this field. However, comparative empirical research is still required to highlight strengths and potential biases of different approaches. Therefore, this study compares environmental DNA and observational methods for the same study population and sampling duration. We employed DNA metabarcoding assays targeting plant and arthropod diet items in 823 fecal samples collected over 12 months in a wild population of an omnivorous primate, the vervet monkey (Chlorocebus pygerythrus). DNA metabarcoding data were subsequently compared to direct observations. We observed the same seasonal patterns of plant consumption with both methods; however, DNA metabarcoding showed considerably greater taxonomic coverage and resolution compared to observations, mostly due to the construction of a local plant DNA database. We found a strong effect of season on variation in plant consumption largely shaped by the dry and wet seasons. The seasonal effect on arthropod consumption was weaker, but feeding on arthropods was more frequent in spring and summer, showing overall that vervets adapt their diet according to available resources. The DNA metabarcoding assay outperformed also direct observations of arthropod consumption in both taxonomic coverage and resolution. Combining traditional techniques and DNA metabarcoding data can therefore not only provide enhanced assessments of complex diets and trophic interactions to the benefit of wildlife conservationists and managers but also opens new perspectives for behavioral ecologists studying whether diet variation in social species is induced by environmental differences or might reflect selective foraging behaviors.en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipEUen_US
dc.identifier.citationBrun, Schneider, Carrió, Dongre, Taberlet, Waal, Fumagalli. Focal vs. fecal: Seasonal variation in the diet of wild vervet monkeys from observational and DNA metabarcoding data. Ecology and Evolution. 2022;12(10)en_US
dc.identifier.cristinIDFRIDAID 2085314
dc.identifier.doi10.1002/ece3.9358
dc.identifier.issn2045-7758
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10037/27839
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.publisherWileyen_US
dc.relation.journalEcology and Evolution
dc.relation.projectIDinfo:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ERC/H2020/949379/EU/From the individual to the system: Understanding knowledge movement/KNOWLEDGE MOVES/en_US
dc.rights.accessRightsopenAccessen_US
dc.rights.holderCopyright 2022 The Author(s)en_US
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0en_US
dc.rightsAttribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)en_US
dc.titleFocal vs. fecal: Seasonal variation in the diet of wild vervet monkeys from observational and DNA metabarcoding dataen_US
dc.type.versionpublishedVersionen_US
dc.typeJournal articleen_US
dc.typeTidsskriftartikkelen_US
dc.typePeer revieweden_US


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Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)