'What can metabarcoding teach us about plant dispersal agents? A case study of Solanaceae'
Excellent opportunity to work with colleagues at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Scotland, including Tiina Särkinen and James Nichols.
Metabarcoding of animal scat (i.e., poo) samples has been used for increasing our understanding animal diets, predator-prey relationships, and seasonal variation in food webs (e.g., Yu et al. 2012; De Barba et al. 2014; Hernani-Lineros et al. 2020; Boukhdoud et al. 2021; Mannise et al. 2024; Thuo et al. 2024).
In the field of biodiversity science, metabarcoding has great potential on giving us insights into fruit and seed dispersal, an underexplored process that has remained less studied because of the difficulty of obtaining data. Many plants use animals to disperse their seeds, either directly as foraging frugivores (endozoochory) or as scatter-hoarding granivores (synzoochory; Jordano and Schupp 2000; Herrera 2002; Gómez et al. 2019). Despite decades of scientific research, our knowledge on dispersal agents of most plant species is lagging because of the difficulty of obtaining observations and data on dispersal.
The question now is how much new data is being generated through metabarcoding projects, and what do these studies tell us compared to the knowledge we have accumulated based on observational studies. Solanaceae is a great study system for exploring this question, as most of the family have soft, succulent berries that are highly likely to be eaten and dispersed by animals. What animals in each case remains mostly unknown, although scattered information exists on particular groups (e.g., Lycium in Nogales et al. 1998; Morelloid clade of Solanum in Tamboia et al. 1996, Bravo et al. 2014, and Barnea et al. 1990; Eastern Hemisphere Spiny clade members of Solanum in Symon 1979; Solanum Geminata clade in Dinerstein 1983, Wheelwright et al. 1984; Capsicum in Tewksbury and Nahban 2001).
Aims
This project aims to review published metabarcoding studies of animal scat samples that have used plant-specific primers to see what we can learn about dispersal agents of Solanaceae fruits. How much new knowledge have we gained about dispersal agents in Solanaceae thanks to metabarcoding studies?
-Identify published metabarcoding studies of animal scat samples that have used plant-specific primers to include in the review.
-Look through papers (incl. supplementary information and data links provided within) to see whether Solanaceae species were identified as part of the results.
-Contact authors to ask access to their data if needed.
-Re-assess identification of the Solanaceae species/genus provided in the study considering floristic knowledge of species diversity in the family within the geographic region and study area.
-Identify absences of Solanaceae in papers as well as confirmed presence of Solanaceae species in animal scat samples based on metabarcoding studies.
-Review knowledge on dispersal agents of Solanaceae species based on non-molecular, observational studies and compare this to knowledge of dispersal agents across the family from the metabarcoding studies.
Key References:
Barnea A, Yom-Tov Y, Friedman J (1990) Differential germination of two closely related species of Solanum in response to bird ingestion. Oikos 57(2): 222–228.
Boukhdoud L, Saliba C, Parker LD, McInerney NR, Kahale R, Saliba I, Maldonado JE, Dagher Kharrat MB (2021) Using DNA metabarcoding to decipher the diet plant component of mammals from the Eastern Mediterranean region. Metabarcoding & Metagenomics 5: 219-231.
Bravo C, Velilla S, Bautista LM, Peco B (2014) Effects of great bustard (Otis tarda) gut passage on black nightshade (Solanum nigrum) seed germination. Seed Science Research 24(03): 265–271.
De Barba M, Miquel C, Boyer F, Mercier C, Rioux D, Coissac E, Taberlet P (2014) DNA metabarcoding multiplexing and validation of data accuracy for diet assessment: application to omnivorous diet. Molecular Ecology Resources 14: 306–323.
Dinerstein E (1983) Reproductive ecology of fruit bats and seasonality of fruit production in a Costa Rican cloud forest. Ph.D. thesis, Univ. of Washington, Seattle. 146 pp.
Gómez JM, Schupp EW, Jordano P (2019) Synzoochory: the ecological and evolutionary relevance of a dual interaction. Biological Reviews 94: 874–902.
Hernani-Lineros L, Garcia E, Pacheco LF (2020) Andean bear diet near to and far from a road. Ursus 31: 1-7
Herrera CM (2002) Seed dispersal by vertebrates. Plant–animal interactions: an evolutionary approach, 185–208.
Jordano P, Schupp EW (2000) Seed disperser effectiveness: the quantity component and patterns of seed rain for Prunus mahaleb. Ecological Monographs 70: 591–615.
Mannise N, Cosse M, Greif G, Bou N, Robello C, Gonzalez S, Iriarte A (2024) Developing a DNA metabarcoding method to identify diet taxa in Neotropical foxes. Front. Ecol. Evol. 12:1360714.
Nogales M, Delgado JD, Medina FM (1998) Shrikes, lizards and Lycium intricatum (Solanaceae) fruits: a case of indirect seed dispersal on an oceanic island (Alegranza, Canary Islands). Journal of Ecology 86(5): 866-871.
Symon DE (1979) Fruit diversity and fruit dispersal in Solanum in Australia. J. Adelaide Bot. Gard. 1: 321-331.
Tamboia T, Cipollini ML, Levey DJ (1996) An evaluation of vertebrate seed dispersal syndromes in four species of black nightshade (Solanum sect. Solanum). Oecologia 107(4): 522–532.
TewksburyJJ, Nabhan GP (2001) Directed deterrence by capsaicin in chillies. Nature 412: 403–404.
Thuo D, Macgregor NA, Merson SD, Scopel D, Keogh JS, Kenny J, Williams JL, Guest T, Swan S, McAlpin S, Joseph L (2024) Metabarcoding clarifies the diet of the elusive and vulnerable Australian tjakura (Great Desert Skink, Liopholis kintorei). Front. Ecol. Evol. 12:1354138.
Wheelwright NT, WA Haber, KG Murray, C Guindon (1984) Tropical fruit-eating birds and their food plants: a survey of a Costa Rican lower montane forest. Biotropica 16: 173-192.
Yu D, Xun B, Shi P, Shao H, Liu Y (2012) Ecological restoration planning based on connectivity in an urban area. Ecological Engineering 46: 24–33.