Assessing the current feces identification method of the European otter Lutra lutra

Andersen, Liselotte Wesley; Schousgaard, Henriette Sallo; Kahlert, Johnny; Linnet, Anton; Jensen, Ole Hyttel; Thomsen, Erik; Sørensen, Flemming Brandt; Baagøe, Hans J.; Frikke, John; Jacobsen, Henrik Klinge; Håkansson, Bo; Loeschcke, Volker; Madsen, Aksel Bo

doi:10.2981/wlb.00764

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 16 publications

(25 reference statements)

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“…All of them were professionals working in public wildlife agencies or conservation NGOs. To minimize detection and identification issues (Andersen et al, 2021), we selected only experienced observers and provided them all with training in spraint detection/identification and in the survey methodology prior to field…”

Section: Field Data Collectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intensive agriculture as the main limiting factor of the otter's return in southwest France

Couturier¹,

Steinmetz

Rau

et al. 2023

Biological Conservation

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Section: Field Data Collectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intensive agriculture as the main limiting factor of the otter's return in southwest France

Couturier¹,

Steinmetz

Rau

et al. 2023

Biological Conservation

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Can the Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra) be used as an effective sampler of fish diversity? Using molecular assessment of otter diet to survey fish communities

Dou¹,

Wang²,

Yin³

et al. 2023

MBMG

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The Eurasian otter Lutra lutra is a generalist carnivore that is widely distributed in many aquatic ecosystems. Based on its inherent attributes of opportunistic foraging behaviour and broad dietary range, it is naturally considered a potential sampler of the diversity of aquatic vertebrates. To test the ability and efficiency of otters as a diversity sampler, we used DNA metabarcoding to investigate the composition in vertebrates of the diet of otters that inhabit a forest stream area in northeast China. Twenty vertebrate prey taxa were detected in 98 otter spraints. Otter diet mainly comprised aquatic fishes (59.4%) and amphibians (39.0%). We also used traditional approaches to investigate fish communities at 60 sampling sites in the same area to determine the relationship between fish population composition in the environment and otter diet. The comparison revealed that 28 species of fish were distributed in this area, of which five are simultaneously detected in otter spraints. This indicates that molecular analysis of the diet of otters is not an ideal approach for investigating fish diversity, at least when using the 12SV5 primer pair. Based on a review of the available molecular research on otter diet, we conclude that the low species resolution may be due to the presence of many closely-related prey species in native habitats and lack of suitable barcodes. Considering the remarkable power of diet metabarcoding analysis in capturing elusive and rare species, it represents an approach that can compensate for the defects associated with fishing methods and we suggest that it can be used as an auxiliary means of measuring traditional fish diversity.

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Assessing the current feces identification method of the European otter Lutra lutra

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Cited by 2 publications

References 16 publications

Intensive agriculture as the main limiting factor of the otter's return in southwest France

Intensive agriculture as the main limiting factor of the otter's return in southwest France

Can the Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra) be used as an effective sampler of fish diversity? Using molecular assessment of otter diet to survey fish communities

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