Metabarcoding of Fecal Samples to Determine Herbivore Diets: A Case Study of the Endangered Pacific Pocket Mouse.

ABSTRACT: Understanding the diet of an endangered species illuminates the animal's ecology, habitat requirements, and conservation needs. However, direct observation of diet can be difficult, particularly for small, nocturnal animals such as the Pacific pocket mouse (Heteromyidae: Perognathus longimembris pacificus). Very little is known of the dietary habits of this federally endangered rodent, hindering management and restoration efforts. We used a metabarcoding approach to identify source plants in fecal samples (N = 52) from the three remaining populations known. The internal transcribed spacers (ITS) of the nuclear ribosomal loci were sequenced following the Illumina MiSeq amplicon strategy and processed reads were mapped to reference databases. We evaluated a range of threshold mapping criteri

SUBMITTER: Iwanowicz DD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5112926 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature