Fecal DNA metabarcoding reveals the dietary composition of wintering Red-crowned Cranes(Grus japonensis)  

作　　者：Hongyi Liu Wei Xu Nan Xu Wenwen Zhang Haoming Jiang Yongqiang Zhao Changhu Lu Ying Zhu Peng Xu 

机构地区：[1]The Co-Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China,College of Life Sciences,Nanjing Forestry University,Nanjing,210037,China [2]Administration Station of Castanopsis Kawakamii Nature Reserve in Xinkou of Sanming,Sanming,365000,China [3]Research Center for Biodiversity Conservation and Biosafety,State Environmental Protection Scientific Observation and Research Station for Ecological Environment of Wuyi Mountains,Biodiversity Comprehensive Observation Station for Wuyi Mountains,State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory on Biosafety,Nanjing Institute of Environmental Sciences,Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China,Nanjing,210042,China [4]Jiangsu Yancheng Wetland National Nature Reserve,Yancheng,224057,China [5]Institute of Qinghai Tibetan Plateau,Southwest Minzu University,Chengdu,610041,China [6]Wetland College,Yancheng Teachers University,Yancheng,224051,China

出　　处：《Avian Research》2023年第4期647-655,共9页鸟类学研究（英文版）

基　　金：supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.31800453);the Biodiversity Investigation,Observation and Assessment Program(2019-2023);the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China(2110404);the Science and Technology Department of Sichuan Province(No.2022YFS0487).

摘　　要：Understanding the diet of threatened wildlife is vital for species-specific conservation and habitat management measures.The Red-crowned Crane(Grus japonensis)is a vulnerable bird distributed in Northeast Asia.Previous dietary studies of this bird focused mainly on its plant food composition based on field observations and microhistological identification.Herein,a total of 45 fecal samples were collected in November,December and January(15 fecal samples each month)from wintering cranes,and then subjected to a high throughput sequencing meta-barcoding approach to determine the primary plant(rbcL)and animal(COI)food items in their diet.A total of 230 operational taxonomic units(OTUs)of plant foods and 371 OTUs of animal foods were obtained.The main plant foods in the wintering period were Miscanthus,Zea,and Hordeum genera,which were similar to those in the breeding and the migration periods.Both agricultural and natural plants were detected,indicating a relatively broad dietary niche for this crane species.However,the main animal foods were representatives of Theridiidae,Megascolecidae,and Agelenidae,in sharp contrast to previous studies.The higher number of small terrestrial arthropods in animal foods might be due to the indirect intake of plants.The composition of both plant and animal foods in the diet showed the highest diversity in December,while it was homogeneous in January.The plant of Zea genus became the main source of nutrition in late winter,as supplementary feeding was performed in the reserve,which could help Red-crowned Cranes to get through the cold season.The results obtained in this work would contribute to the development of effective conservation strategies for the Red-crowned Crane.

关 键 词：Dietary composition Dietary niche Metabarcoding Molecular diet analysis Red-crowned Crane 

分 类 号：Q958.1[生物学—动物学]