Characterizing the secret diets of siphonophores (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa) using DNA metabarcoding.

ABSTRACT: Siphonophores (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa) are abundant and diverse gelatinous predators in open-ocean ecosystems. Due to limited access to the midwater, little is known about the diets of most deep-dwelling gelatinous species, which constrains our understanding of food-web structure and nutrient flow in these vast ecosystems. Visual gut-content methods can rarely identify soft-bodied rapidly-digested prey, while observations from submersibles often overlook small prey items. These methods have been differentially applied to shallow and deep siphonophore taxa, confounding habitat and methodological biases. DNA metabarcoding can be used to assess both shallow and deep species' diets under a common methodological framework, since it can detect both small and gelatinous prey. We (1) further character

SUBMITTER: Damian-Serrano A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9122208 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature