Bat Species Diets Analyzed via DNA Metabarcoding Across a Breeding Season

DNA metabarcoding reveals the seasonal diet variation of three closely-related Plecotus bat species in a sympatric area. The dataset, authored by Tommy Andriollo of the Natural History Museum of Geneva, covers the entire breeding season from April to October. It highlights strong intra- and inter-specific niche shifts, from distinct prey in spring to overlapping consumption of abundant moths in summer and fall.

Use Cases

• Modeling seasonal niche overlap based on prey species occurrence data mentioned in the description
• Analyzing habitat-driven foraging preferences inferred from the ecological traits of prey
• Studying phylogenetic constraints on trophic niche differentiation among closely-related species
• Investigating the relationship between prey abundance and bat community diet composition

Strengths

• Data spans an entire breeding season from April to October, capturing temporal dynamics
• Focus on three phenotypically and phylogenetically closely-related species allows for fine-grained comparative analysis
• Analysis considers ecological traits of prey species to infer foraging habitat and techniques

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified

Provenance

Source

Natural History Museum of Geneva

Collection Method

DNA metabarcoding of bat guano samples

Time Range

April to October (entire breeding season)

Geography

A single sympatric area (specific location not detailed)