Duquesne University Duquesne Scholarship Collection Electronic Theses and Dissertations Fall 1-1-2017 DNA metabarcoding reveals provisioning of pollution-sensitive aquatic insects, resource partitioning, and dietary shifts among breeding Neotropical migratory songbirds in a riparian habitat Brian K. Trevelline Follow this and additional works at: https://dsc.duq.edu/etd Part of the Biology Commons, Molecular Genetics Commons, and the Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology Commons Recommended Citation Trevelline, B. K. (2017). DNA metabarcoding reveals provisioning of pollution-sensitive aquatic insects, resource partitioning, and dietary shifts mona g breeding Neotropical migratory songbirds in a riparian habitat (Doctoral dissertation, Duquesne University). Retrieved from https://dsc.duq.edu/etd/196 This One-year Embargo is brought to you for free and open access by Duquesne Scholarship Collection. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Duquesne Scholarship Collection. For more information, please contact [email protected]. DNA METABARCODING REVEALS PROVISIONING OF POLLUTION-SENSITIVE AQUATIC INSECTS, RESOURCE PARTITIONING, AND DIETARY SHIFTS AMONG BREEDING NEOTROPICAL MIGRATORY SONGBIRDS IN A RIPARIAN HABITAT A Dissertation Submitted to the Bayer School of Natural and Environmental Sciences Duquesne University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy By Brian K. Trevelline December 2017 Copyright by Brian K. Trevelline 2017 DNA METABARCODING REVEALS PROVISIONING OF POLLUTION-SENSITIVE AQUATIC INSECTS, RESOURCE PARTITIONING, AND DIETARY SHIFTS AMONG BREEDING NEOTROPICAL MIGRATORY SONGBIRDS IN A RIPARIAN HABITAT By Brian K. Trevelline Approved September 7th, 2017 ________________________________ ________________________________ Dr. Brady A. Porter Dr. Jan E. Janecka Associate Professor of Biological Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences Sciences (Committee Member) (Committee Chair) ________________________________ ________________________________ Dr. David J. Lampe Dr. Steven C. Latta Professor of Biology of Biological Director, National Aviary Department of Sciences Conservation and Field Research (Committee Member) (External Committee Member) ________________________________ ________________________________ Dr. Philip P. Reeder Dr. Joseph R. McCormick Dean, Bayer School of Natural and Associate Professor of Biological Environmental Sciences Sciences (Department Chair) iii ABSTRACT DNA METABARCODING REVEALS PROVISIONING OF POLLUTION-SENSITIVE AQUATIC INSECTS, RESOURCE PARTITIONING, AND DIETARY SHIFTS AMONG BREEDING NEOTROPICAL MIGRATORY SONGBIRDS IN A RIPARIAN HABITAT By Brian K. Trevelline December 2017 Dissertation supervised by Dr. Brady A. Porter Elucidating the diet of Neotropical migratory birds is essential to our understanding of their ecology and to their long-term conservation. Beyond broad taxonomic or morphological categories, however, the diet of Neotropical migrants is poorly documented. Using the molecular techniques of DNA barcoding and next-generation sequencing, we elucidated the diet of Neotropical migratory songbirds breeding in the riparian zones of headwater Appalachian streams. This approach resulted in a genus- or species-level description of diets that improved the current understanding of how songbirds utilize aquatic prey resources in riparian habitats. Furthermore, our approach revealed that breeding songbirds partition prey resources within a shared riparian habitat. Despite substantial differences in foraging strategy, we provide evidence that syntopic riparian species opportunistically prey upon pollution-sensitive emergent aquatic insects, thus emphasizing the importance of aquatic resource subsidies for songbirds breeding in riparian habitats. For the stream-dependent Louisiana Waterthrush, the provisioning of aquatic insects was significantly higher than other riparian songbirds. As a result, waterthrush breeding in riparian habitats with reduced availability of aquatic arthropods expanded their diet by targeting a more diverse array of insects that included significantly more terrestrial taxa. In addition to providing support for our hypothesis that Louisiana Waterthrush compensate for food shortages by targeting terrestrial arthropods in degraded riparian habitats, our findings emphasize the vulnerability of Louisiana Waterthrush to anthropogenic disturbances that compromise stream quality and the availability of pollution-sensitive aquatic insects. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my committee members—Brady Porter, Steve Latta, Jan Janecka, Dave Lampe, and Tim Nuttle—for all their help and guidance. I specifically want to thank Brady, Steve, and Tim. The diversity of expertise they provided was essential to complete this project and made for the ideal mentoring team. About 25% of my time as a graduate student was spent conducting fieldwork at Powdermill Nature Reserve. Thanks to all the staff at PNR that accommodated our research team and facilitated our project in so many ways. I would specifically like to thank John Wenzel and Cokie Lindsay for all they did to make this project a reality. This dissertation would not have been possible without the help of numerous field and laboratory technicians over three consecutive field seasons: Eduardo Anaya, Rose Chism, Thomas Cordray, Brandon Hoenig, Andrea Kautz, Marisa Logan, Michael McFarlin, Danilo Mejia, Michael Miles, Maria Paulino, DeYanna Reed, Zachary Steffensmeier, and Youstina Seliman. I would specifically like to thank Danilo Mejia and Maria Paulino, both of whom were essential to the success of this project. This dissertation research was supported by grants from the American Ornithological Society (formerly the American Ornithologists’ Union), Carnegie Museum of Natural History, National Aviary, and National Science Foundation (DEB-1349870 to Tim Nuttle). I would like to thank the Bayer School of Natural and Environmental Sciences for supporting undergraduate field technicians through the Undergraduate Research Program (URP). I would also like to thank the Carnegie Museum of Natural History for supporting me as a research assistant through the Rea Research Fellowship and the Bayer School of Natural and Environmental Sciences for supporting for supporting me through a teaching assistantship and a research fellowship. v CONTRIBUTIONS Chapter 1: Brian K. Trevelline, Steven C. Latta, Tim Nuttle, and Brady A. Porter conceived the idea, design, and experiment (supervised research, formulated question or hypothesis); B.K.T. and Leesia C. Marshall performed the experiments (collected data, conducted the research); B.K.T. wrote the paper with edits from S.C.L., L.C.M., T.N., and B.A.P.; B.K.T. developed and designed the methods; B.K.T. analyzed the data; and S.C.L, T.N., and B.A.P. contributed substantial materials, resources, and funding. Chapter 2: B.K.T., T.N., B.A.P., and S.C.L. collectively conceived and designed this study as an extension of S.C.L.’s long-term research on Louisiana Waterthrush. B.K.T. and Brandon D. Hoenig conducted the fieldwork (with guidance from T.N., B.A.P., and S.C.L.); B.K.T. developed the field and laboratory protocols, conducted molecular work (with B.D.H.), performed statistical analyses (with Nathan L. Brouwer), and wrote the manuscript in the laboratory of B.A.P. Chapter 3: B.K.T., T.N., B.A.P., and S.C.L. collectively conceived and designed this study as an extension of S.C.L.’s long-term research on Louisiana Waterthrush. B.K.T. and B.D.H. conducted the fieldwork (with guidance from T.N., B.A.P., and S.C.L.). Aquatic macroinvertebrates were identified by Marisa Logan. Emergent EPT taxa were identified and enumerated by B.K.T. and Zachary D. Steffensmeier. B.K.T. developed the field and laboratory protocols, conducted molecular work (with B.D.H.), performed statistical analyses (with N.L.B.), and wrote the manuscript in the laboratory of B.A.P. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................................... v Contributions ................................................................................................................................. vi List of Tables ................................................................................................................................. ix List of Figures ................................................................................................................................. x Chapter One: Molecular analysis of nestling diet in a long-distance Neotropical migrant, the Louisiana Waterthrush (Parkesia motacilla) .................................................................................. 1 1.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 2 1.2 Materials and Methods ......................................................................................................... 5 1.3 Results .................................................................................................................................. 9 1.4 Discussion .......................................................................................................................... 15 1.5 Literature Cited .................................................................................................................