Diet composition of wild columbiform birds: next-generation sequencing of plant and metazoan DNA in faecal samples.

ABSTRACT: Accurate knowledge of a species' diets is fundamental to understand their ecological requirements. Next-generation sequencing technology has become a powerful and non-invasive tool for diet reconstruction through DNA metabarcoding. Here, we applied those methods on faecal samples of Common Woodpigeons Columba palumbus, European Turtle Doves Streptopelia turtur, and Stock Doves C. oenas to investigate their dietary composition. By applying primer pairs targeting both the ITS2 region of plant nuclear DNA and the mitochondrial COI region of metazoan DNA, we provide a complete picture of the food ingested and estimate the dietary overlap between the columbiform species during the breeding season. Animal DNA was present very rarely, and a diverse range of plants from the class Spermatopsida dom

SUBMITTER: Schumm YR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10363069 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature