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Webster SC, Hinton JW, Chamberlain MJ, Murphy JJ, Beasley JC. Land cover and space use influence coyote carnivory: evidence from stable-isotope analysis. PeerJ 2024; 12:e17457. [PMID: 38854793 PMCID: PMC11160434 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.17457] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/06/2023] [Accepted: 05/03/2024] [Indexed: 06/11/2024] Open
Abstract
For many species, the relationship between space use and diet composition is complex, with individuals adopting varying space use strategies such as territoriality to facilitate resource acquisition. Coyotes (Canis latrans) exhibit two disparate types of space use; defending mutually exclusive territories (residents) or moving nomadically across landscapes (transients). Resident coyotes have increased access to familiar food resources, thus improved foraging opportunities to compensate for the energetic costs of defending territories. Conversely, transients do not defend territories and are able to redirect energetic costs of territorial defense towards extensive movements in search of mates and breeding opportunities. These differences in space use attributed to different behavioral strategies likely influence foraging and ultimately diet composition, but these relationships have not been well studied. We investigated diet composition of resident and transient coyotes in the southeastern United States by pairing individual space use patterns with analysis of stable carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) isotope values to assess diet. During 2016-2017, we monitored 41 coyotes (26 residents, 15 transients) with GPS radio-collars along the Savannah River area in the southeastern United States. We observed a canopy effect on δ13C values and little anthropogenic food in coyote diets, suggesting 13C enrichment is likely more influenced by reduced canopy cover than consumption of human foods. We also observed other land cover effects, such as agricultural cover and road density, on δ15N values as well as reduced space used by coyotes, suggesting that cover types and localized, resident-like space use can influence the degree of carnivory in coyotes. Finally, diets and niche space did not differ between resident and transient coyotes despite differences observed in the proportional contribution of potential food sources to their diets. Although our stable isotope mixing models detected differences between the diets of resident and transient coyotes, both relied mostly on mammalian prey (52.8%, SD = 15.9 for residents, 42.0%, SD = 15.6 for transients). Resident coyotes consumed more game birds (21.3%, SD = 11.6 vs 13.7%, SD = 8.8) and less fruit (10.5%, SD = 6.9 vs 21.3%, SD = 10.7) and insects (7.2%, SD = 4.7 vs 14.3%, SD = 8.5) than did transients. Our findings indicate that coyote populations fall on a feeding continuum of omnivory to carnivory in which variability in feeding strategies is influenced by land cover characteristics and space use behaviors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah C. Webster
- Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of Georgia, Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, Aiken, South Carolina, United States
| | | | - Michael J. Chamberlain
- Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, United States
| | | | - James C. Beasley
- Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of Georgia, Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, Aiken, South Carolina, United States
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Schlütz F, Hofmann R, dal Corso M, Pashkevych G, Dreibrodt S, Shatilo M, Terna A, Fuchs K, Videiko M, Rud V, Müller J, Kirleis W. Isotopes prove advanced, integral crop production, and stockbreeding strategies nourished Trypillia mega-populations. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2023; 120:e2312962120. [PMID: 38109547 PMCID: PMC10756257 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2312962120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2023] [Accepted: 10/27/2023] [Indexed: 12/20/2023] Open
Abstract
After 500 y of colonizing the forest-steppe area northwest of the Black Sea, on the territories of what is today Moldova and Ukraine, Trypillia societies founded large, aggregated settlements from ca. 4150 BCE and mega-sites (>100 ha) from ca. 3950 BCE. Covering up to 320 ha and housing up to 15,000 inhabitants, the latter were the world's largest settlements to date. Some 480 δ13C and δ15N measurements on bones of humans, animals, and charred crops allow the detection of spatio-temporal patterns and the calculation of complete agricultural Bayesian food webs for Trypillia societies. The isotope data come from settlements of the entire Trypillia area between the Prut and the Dnieper rivers. The datasets cover the development of the Trypillia societies from the early phase (4800-4200/4100 BCE), over the agglomeration of mega-sites (4200/4100-3650 BCE), to the dispersal phase (3650-3000 BCE). High δ15N values mostly come from the mega-sites. Our analyses show that the subsistence of Trypillia mega-sites depended on pulses cultivated on strongly manured (dung-)soils and on cattle that were kept fenced on intensive pastures to easy collect the manure for pulse cultivation. The food web models indicate a low proportion of meat in human diet (approximately 10%). The largely crop-based diet, consisting of cereals plus up to 46% pulses, was balanced in calories and indispensable amino acids. The flourishing of Europe's first mega-populations depended on an advanced, integral mega-economy that included sophisticated dung management. Their demise was therefore not economically, but socially, conditioned [Hofmann et al., PLoS One. 14, e0222243 (2019)].
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Affiliation(s)
- Frank Schlütz
- Institute of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Archaeology, Christian-Albrechts-University, Kiel24118, Germany
- Collaborative Research Centre 1266 “Scales of Transformation,” Christian-Albrechts-University, Kiel24118, Germany
| | - Robert Hofmann
- Institute of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Archaeology, Christian-Albrechts-University, Kiel24118, Germany
- Collaborative Research Centre 1266 “Scales of Transformation,” Christian-Albrechts-University, Kiel24118, Germany
| | - Marta dal Corso
- Institute of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Archaeology, Christian-Albrechts-University, Kiel24118, Germany
- Collaborative Research Centre 1266 “Scales of Transformation,” Christian-Albrechts-University, Kiel24118, Germany
- Department of Geosciences, University of Padua, Padua35122, Italy
| | - Galyna Pashkevych
- National Museum of Natural Sciences of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv01030, Ukraine
| | - Stefan Dreibrodt
- Collaborative Research Centre 1266 “Scales of Transformation,” Christian-Albrechts-University, Kiel24118, Germany
- Institute for Ecosystem Research, Christian-Albrechts-University, 24118 Kiel
- Baden-Württemberg State Office for Cultural Heritage, 78343 Gaienhofen-Hemmenhofen, Germany
| | - Mila Shatilo
- Collaborative Research Centre 1266 “Scales of Transformation,” Christian-Albrechts-University, Kiel24118, Germany
| | - Andreea Terna
- Institute of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Archaeology, Christian-Albrechts-University, Kiel24118, Germany
- Collaborative Research Centre 1266 “Scales of Transformation,” Christian-Albrechts-University, Kiel24118, Germany
| | - Katharina Fuchs
- Collaborative Research Centre 1266 “Scales of Transformation,” Christian-Albrechts-University, Kiel24118, Germany
- Institute of Clinical Molecular Biology, Christian-Albrechts-University, Kiel24105, Germany
| | - Mykhailo Videiko
- Research Laboratory of Archaeology, Borys Grinchenko Kyiv University, Kyiv04053, Ukraine
| | - Vitalii Rud
- Institute of Archaeology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv01030, Ukraine
| | - Johannes Müller
- Institute of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Archaeology, Christian-Albrechts-University, Kiel24118, Germany
- Collaborative Research Centre 1266 “Scales of Transformation,” Christian-Albrechts-University, Kiel24118, Germany
| | - Wiebke Kirleis
- Institute of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Archaeology, Christian-Albrechts-University, Kiel24118, Germany
- Collaborative Research Centre 1266 “Scales of Transformation,” Christian-Albrechts-University, Kiel24118, Germany
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Xiao B, Rey-lglesia A, Yuan J, Hu J, Song S, Hou Y, Chen X, Germonpré M, Bao L, Wang S, Taogetongqimuge, Valentinovna LL, Lister AM, Lai X, Sheng G. Relationships of Late Pleistocene giant deer as revealed by Sinomegaceros mitogenomes from East Asia. iScience 2023; 26:108406. [PMID: 38047074 PMCID: PMC10690636 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.108406] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/26/2023] [Revised: 09/26/2023] [Accepted: 11/03/2023] [Indexed: 12/05/2023] Open
Abstract
The giant deer, widespread in northern Eurasia during the Late Pleistocene, have been classified as western Megaloceros and eastern Sinomegaceros through morphological studies. While Megaloceros's evolutionary history has been unveiled through mitogenomes, Sinomegaceros remains molecularly unexplored. Herein, we generated mitogenomes of giant deer from East Asia. We find that, in contrast to the morphological differences between Megaloceros and Sinomegaceros, they are mixed in the mitochondrial phylogeny, and Siberian specimens suggest a range contact or overlap between these two groups. Meanwhile, one deep divergent clade and another surviving until 20.1 thousand years ago (ka) were detected in northeastern China, the latter implying this area as a potential refugium during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Moreover, stable isotope analyses indicate correlations between climate-introduced vegetation changes and giant deer extinction. Our study demonstrates the genetic relationship between eastern and western giant deer and explores the promoters of their extirpation in northern East Asia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bo Xiao
- State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430078, China
- School of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China
| | - Alba Rey-lglesia
- Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, 1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark
| | - Junxia Yuan
- State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430078, China
- Faculty of Materials Science and Chemistry, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430078, China
| | - Jiaming Hu
- State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430078, China
- School of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China
| | - Shiwen Song
- State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430078, China
- School of Environmental Studies, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430078, China
| | - Yamei Hou
- Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100044, China
| | - Xi Chen
- Department of Cultural Heritage and Museology, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210046, China
| | - Mietje Germonpré
- Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, 1000 Brussels, Belgium
| | - Lei Bao
- Ordos Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, Ordos 017010, China
| | | | | | - Lbova Liudmila Valentinovna
- Graduate School of International Relations, Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, St. Petersburg, Grazhdansky Av., 28, Russia
| | | | - Xulong Lai
- State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430078, China
- School of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China
| | - Guilian Sheng
- State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430078, China
- School of Environmental Studies, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430078, China
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