Diet of Andean leaf-eared mice (<i>Phyllotis</i>) living at extreme elevations on Atacama volcanoes: insights from metagenomics, DNA metabarcoding, and stable isotopes.

ABSTRACT: On the flanks of >6000 m Andean volcanoes that tower over the Atacama Desert, leaf-eared mice (Phyllotis vaccarum) live at extreme elevations that surpass known vegetation limits. What the mice eat in these barren, hyperarid environments has been the subject of much speculation. According to the arthropod fallout hypothesis, sustenance is provided by windblown insects that accumulate in snowdrifts ('aolian deposits'). It is also possible that mice feed on saxicolous lichen or forms of cryptic vegetation that have yet to be discovered at such high elevations. We tested hypotheses about the diet of mice living at extreme elevations on Atacama volcanoes by combining metagenomic and DNA metabarcoding analyses of gut contents with stable-isotope analyses of mouse tissues. Genomic analyse

SUBMITTER: Quezada-Romegialli C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11291156 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature