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Volume 51, No. 2

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Characterizing the diet of a threatened seabird, the Marbled Murrelet Brachyramphus marmoratus, using high-throughput sequencing


Authors

EMILY D. FOUNTAIN1*, PAIGE J. KULZER1, RICHARD T. GOLIGHTLY2, JAMES W. RIVERS3, SCOTT F. PEARSON4, MARTIN G. RAPHAEL5, MATTHEW G. BETTS6, S. KIM NELSON7, DANIEL D. ROBY7, NICHOLAS F. KRYSHAK1, STEPHANIE SCHNEIDER2, & M. ZACHARIAH PEERY1
1Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, 53706, USA *(efountain@wisc.edu)
2Department of Wildlife, Humboldt State University, Arcata, California, 95521, USA
3Department of Forest Engineering, Resources, and Management, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, 97331, USA
4Wildlife Research Division, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Olympia, Washington, 98501, USA
5United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, Olympia, Washington, 98512, USA
6Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, 97331, USA
7Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, 97331, USA

Citation

FOUNTAIN, E.D., KULZER, P.J., GOLIGHTLY, R.T., RIVERS, J.W., PEARSON, S.F., RAPHAEL, M.G., BETTS, M.G., NELSON, S.K., ROBY, D.D, KRYSHAK, N.F., SCHNEIDER, S. & PEERY, M.Z. 2023. Characterizing the diet of a threatened seabird, the Marbled Murrelet Brachyramphus marmoratus, using high-throughput sequencing. Marine Ornithology 51: 145 - 155

Received 08 August 2022, accepted 28 February 2023

Date Published: 2023/10/15
Date Online: 2023/08/03
Key words: metabarcoding, fecal DNA, Illumina MiSeq, climate change, prey

Abstract

Understanding prey consu­­mption patterns is critical to understanding the ways in which seabirds cope with a changing ocean. However, characterizing the dietary habitats of seabirds can be challenging. In this study, we investigated the diet of the Marbled Murrelet Brachyramphus marmoratus population that lives in waters off California, Oregon, and Washington, USA, using fecal DNA, custom metabarcoding, and high-throughput sequencing. Murrelets were captured at sea by dip-netting at night. Across this region, murrelets consumed highly diverse prey types including 17 fish species and 10 invertebrate species, in accord with previous work indicating the species’ forage on a wide range of prey. Pacific Herring Clupea pallasii was the most common prey in Washington and Oregon (frequency of occurrence = 0.84 and 0.69, respectively), replaced by Northern Anchovy Engraulis mordax in California (frequency of occurrence = 0.77). In Oregon, where our sample size was sufficient, diet composition differed between the 2017 and 2018 breeding seasons, with an apparent decline in the proportional consumption of energy-dense prey. Common and energy-dense prey were consumed in equal proportions by males and females, perhaps because of foraging in the same habitat. Diet did not vary between breeders and non-breeders. Our study offers the first detailed report on the diet of adult Marbled Murrelets in waters where they are listed as Threatened by the US federal government. This indicates that managing fisheries and conserving spawning habitat for high-occurrence prey species could benefit murrelet populations.

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