An invasive appetite: Combining molecular and stable isotope analyses to reveal the diet of introduced house mice (Mus musculus) on a small, subtropical island.

ABSTRACT: House mice (Mus musculus) pose a conservation threat on islands, where they adversely affect native species' distributions, densities, and persistence. On Sand Island of Kuaihelani, mice recently began to depredate nesting adult mōlī (Laysan Albatross, Phoebastria immutabilis). Efforts are underway to eradicate mice from Sand Island, but knowledge of mouse diet is needed to predict ecosystem response and recovery following mouse removal. We used next-generation sequencing to identify what mice eat on Sand Island, followed by stable isotope analysis to estimate the proportions contributed by taxa to mouse diet. We collected paired fecal and hair samples from 318 mice between April 2018 to May 2019; mice were trapped approximately every eight weeks among four distinct habitat types to provid

SUBMITTER: Holthuijzen WA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10586637 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature