Abstract
Knowledge of food web interactions is essential for understanding the role of carnivores in an ecosystem and designing appropriate conservation and management strategies to preserve them. These interactions can only be understood by studying carnivores' diets and obtaining comprehensive and unbiased diet data. For large carnivores—which typically rely on large herbivores as prey—the role of smaller prey species has not received attention. This study aims to quantify the contribution of small (5–50 kg) and very small (<5 kg) prey taxa in the diet of lions (Panthera leo melanochaita) in four Kenyan National Parks (NPs). We use DNA metabarcoding to achieve higher-resolution insights into prey composition, which is less biased toward large prey species compared to traditional methods, such as carcass counts. Our study identified 24 prey taxa in a total of 171 lion fecal samples. Small and very small prey taxa together contributed 18.7% out of 278 prey occurrences in all fecal samples, with comparable small prey presence (ranging from 8% to 15%) in the diet for each NP studied. This approach proved to be useful in detecting small and very small prey species in the diet of lions and can therefore be used in future research to uncover the diverse diet composition of these large carnivores. The consistent presence of smaller prey species in the diet indicates that lions generally supplement their large prey diet with smaller prey.
Originalsprog | Engelsk |
---|---|
Tidsskrift | Environmental DNA |
Vol/bind | 5 |
Udgave nummer | 6 |
Sider (fra-til) | 1321-1331 |
Antal sider | 11 |
ISSN | 2637-4943 |
DOI | |
Status | Udgivet - 2023 |
Bibliografisk note
Funding Information:We would like to express our profound gratitude to Amy Montanje, Sam Boerlijst, Iris Noordermeer, Dionne Jacobs, Megan Verhagen, Josine Meijer, Mateo Bal, Gert‐Jan Goeminne, and Kennedy Ole Kariuki for their help with data collection in the field and the laboratory of KWS and Leiden University. Of extremely great help were our skillful drivers Julius Saiyianka Kiooi Shonko, Michael Letaloi, and Kasaine Sompet without whom no data could have been collected. We would like to thank the Senior Warden K. Nashuu and senior scientist C. Mwinzi of KWS Amboseli NP for receiving us and letting us use the staff compound and aiding us with our research during our stay. Special thanks go to Alice Bett and Catherine Wambani of KWS for their guidance and cooperation in the fieldwork in Lake Nakuru National Park. We also want to thank the local scientist in Meru National Park, Geoffrey Bundotich, for helping with the data collection and letting us stay in his house during our fieldwork, and Peter Gitonga Njeru and Meshak K. for being our guides in Meru National Park. This study was funded by the Ecology Fund of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Geographic Society (grant number EC‐51438R‐18) to Kevin Groen.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Authors. Environmental DNA published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.