Comparison of DNA and hair-based approaches to dietary analysis of free-ranging wolves ( Canis lupus )
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METHODS AND RESOURCES ARTICLE
Comparison of DNA and hair-based approaches to dietary analysis of free-ranging wolves (Canis lupus) Carolyn Shores1,2 • Samrat Mondol1,3 • Samuel K. Wasser1
Received: 23 May 2015 / Accepted: 2 November 2015 / Published online: 6 November 2015 Ó Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015
Abstract Dietary habits of free-ranging animals are essential for understanding their ecology, conservation and management. Carnivore diet is most frequently estimated using morphological analysis of prey remains found in scats. However, genetic methods may identify prey in scats when parts are too small to identify by morphological methods. We developed an easy and accurate molecular approach to assess occurrence of prey species in the diet of free-ranging wolves (Canis lupus) and compared the results to analyses of prey hair in the same scat samples collected from northeastern Alberta, Canada. Species-specific mitochondrial DNA primers detected 1.34 times more prey occurrences from scats, and more readily differentiated similar ungulate species such as woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) and deer (Odocoileus sp.) than morphological methods. These findings suggest that molecular analysis of prey in carnivore scat are objective, reproducible and, can help promote effective conservation
Carolyn Shores and Samrat Mondol have contributed equally to this work.
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s12686-015-0504-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. & Samrat Mondol [email protected]; [email protected] 1
Department of Biology, Center for Conservation Biology, University of Washington, Box 351800, Seattle, WA 98195-1800, USA
2
Present Address: Predator Ecology Lab, School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195-1800, USA
3
Present Address: Wildlife Institute of India, P.O. Box 18, Chandrabani, Dehradun 248001, India
and management of carnivore species at risk of conflict with humans. Keywords Wolf Molecular diet analysis Carnivore Dietary ecology Prey identification
Introduction Knowledge of species’ dietary habits is crucial for the study of complex ecosystem processes (Treves and Karanth 2003), predator–prey dynamics and trophic interactions such as interspecific resource partitioning (Symondson 2002; Sheppard and Harwood 2005), resource selection, population change, and physiological health (Deagle et al. 2010). Diet data are especially important in the study of large carnivore species (Gese 2001; Treves and Karanth 2003). As animals at or near the apex of food webs, predators can exert a disproportionate effect on ecosystem functioning relative to their biomass through predation (Paine 1974; Crooks and Soule 1999; Estes et al. 2011). Yet, the marked worldwide decline of large carnivores in the last century (Ceballos et al. 2005; Schipper et al. 2008; Ripple et al. 2014) makes research on their diet and resource use urgent for effective conservation and ma
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