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Shedding new light on the diet of Norwegian lemmings: DNA metabarcoding of stomach content

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Abstract

Lemmings are key herbivores in many arctic food webs, and their population dynamics have major impacts on the functioning of tundra systems. However, current knowledge of lemming diet is limited, hampering evaluation of lemming–vegetation interactions. This lack of knowledge is mainly due to methodological challenges, as previously used microhistological methods result in large proportions of poorly resolved plant taxa. We analyzed diets of Norwegian lemmings (Lemmus lemmus) in three different habitats using a new method, DNA metabarcoding of stomach contents. To achieve detailed information on ingested vascular plants, bryophytes, and fungi, we amplified short fragments of chloroplast DNA (for plants; P6 loop of the trnL intron) and nuclear ribosomal DNA (for fungi; ITS1-region). Our results revealed that lemming diets were dominated by grasses, mainly Avenella flexuosa, and mosses, mainly Dicranum spp., but that a variety of other food items were also eaten. Vascular plant composition of the diets differed between heath, meadow, and wetland habitats, whereas bryophyte composition did not. Also, a variety of fungal taxa were retrieved, but as most of the identified taxa belong to micromycetes, they were unlikely to be consumed as food. The role of fungi in the diet of lemmings remains to be investigated. We suggest that there may be substantial variation between habitats and regions in lemming diet.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Arne-Petter Sarre, Alfred Ørjebo, and all field assistants for collecting lemming samples in 2007; Torbjørn Alm, Knut Rydgren, and Leif Einar Støveren for taxonomic expertise; Christian Miquel, Delphine Rioux, Alice Valentini, Virginia Mirré, and Audun Schrøder-Nielsen for technical assistance in the laboratory; Eric Coissac and Frédéric Boyer for help in data handling; Pierre Taberlet for fruitful discussions and two anonymous reviewers for valuable comments that have improved the manuscript. This project was funded by the Research Council of Norway (Ecosystem Finnmark) and Oskar Huttunen Fond (PhD scholarship for EMS). Funding for building the taxonomic reference libraries was obtained from the Research Council of Norway (the BarFrost project, Grant No. 191627/V40 to CB).

Conflict of interest

We would like to mention that L.G. is one of the co-inventors of a patent concerning g-h primers and the subsequent use of the P6 loop of the chloroplast trnL (UAA) intron for plant identification using degraded template DNA. These patents only restrict commercial applications and have no impact on the use of this locus by academic researchers.

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Author notes

  1. Eva Bellemain

    Present address: Savoie Technolac, Batiment House Boat n7 12, allee du lac de Garde, BP 274, 73375, Le Bourget-du-Lac Cedex, France

  2. Lucie Zinger

    Present address: Laboratoire Evolution et Biodiversité Biologique, UMR 5174, Université Paul Sabatier, 118 route de Narbonne, 31062, Toulouse Cedex 9, France

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Arctic and Marine Biology, University of Tromsø, 9037, Tromsø, Norway

    Eeva M. Soininen, Kari Anne Bråthen, John-André Henden, Siw T. Killengreen, Nigel G. Yoccoz & Rolf A. Ims

  2. Laboratoire d’ECologie Alpine, UMR UJF-UdS-CNRS 5553, Université Joseph Fourier, 2233 rue de la Piscine, BP 53, 38041, Grenoble Cedex 9, France

    Lucie Zinger & Ludovic Gielly

  3. National Centre for Biosystematics, Natural History Museum, University of Oslo, PO Box 1172, Blindern, 0318, Oslo, Norway

    Eva Bellemain, Christian Brochmann, Laura S. Epp & Galina Gussarova

  4. Museum of Natural History, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7491, Trondheim, Norway

    Kristian Hassel & Hans K. Stenøien

  5. Tromsø University Museum, University of Tromsø, 9037, Tromsø, Norway

    Teppo Rämä

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  1. Eeva M. Soininen
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Correspondence to Eeva M. Soininen.

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Soininen, E.M., Zinger, L., Gielly, L. et al. Shedding new light on the diet of Norwegian lemmings: DNA metabarcoding of stomach content. Polar Biol 36, 1069–1076 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-013-1328-2

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