Eurasian otters prefer to prey on religious released nonnative fish on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau  

作　　者：Qiaoyun Wang Xuesong Han Zichen Wang Kaidan Zheng Zhengyi Dong Peng Zhang Pengfei Fan Lu Zhang 

机构地区：[1]School of Life Sciences,Sun Yat-Sen University,Guangzhou 510275,China [2]State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol,School of Life Sciences,Sun Yat-sen University,Guangzhou 510275,China [3]School of Life Sciences,Peking University,Beijing 100871,China [4]Shan Shui Conservation Center,Beijing100871,China [5]School of Ecology,Sun Yat-sen University,Shenzhen,Guangdong 518107,China

出　　处：《Current Zoology》2024年第4期472-479,共8页动物学报（英文版）

基　　金：supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(31900372);One Yangtze River Project of the Huatai Securities,and the State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol(Sun Yat-sen University).

摘　　要：Religious wildlife release is prevalent worldwide,especially in Asia countries.It is one of the anthropogenic pathways to cause biological inva-sions.Religious fish release is common on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau,yet few studies have assessed the influences of religious fish release on local species.InYushu,a city on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau,we interviewedlocal people,conducted fish trap surveys in local rivers,and exam-ined the diet of Eurasian otters Lutra lutra using a fecal DNA metabarcoding approach.We found that fish release started at least in 1980-1990s in Yushu.Tibetan residents released fish in large amounts and released fish were usually exotic commercial fish purchased from market.Despite such long-term and intensive fish release activities,released fish were few in local rivers.On the other hand,Eurasian otters mainly prey on fish and released fish accounted for~20%of relative read abundance of prey DNA in otters'diet,indicating their high preference on released fish.Our study suggested that religious fish release may provide additional food resources for otters,whereas otters,as a top predator in local rivers,may deplete non-native fish once they were released and,therefore,reduce the probability of colonization of released fish,although further studies are required to assess otters'impact.Our study revealed otters'diet in Yushu,providing basic information for local otter management and conservation.Furthermore,it represents a case showing that native predators prey on religious released animals,implying a probable direction forcontrolling invasive species through nativepredator conservation.

关 键 词：biological invasion BUDDHISM Eurasian otter prey composition religious wildlife release scat DNA. 

分 类 号：Q95[生物学—动物学]