Gizzard and fecal samples describing Seaside Sparrow (Ammospiza maritima) diet

The samples in this BioProject are the focus of two main efforts. First, a subset of samples has been used in an effort comparing the utility of gizzard and fecal samples to describe Seaside Sparrow (Ammospiza maritima) diet. DNA metabarcoding has become a popular tool for avian diet studies. Though many studies use fecal samples to describe diet, the influence of digestion on the presence of prey in fecal samples is understudied. Sample type may be an overlooked (but important) factor in dietary metabarcoding studies, as DNA from different prey items can be digested at different rates and may lead to inaccurate descriptions of the diet. By comparing less digested samples (gizzard) to more digested samples (fecal), we aim to determine if the description of sparrow diet is influenced by digestion and sample type used. Second, a subset of samples has been used in an effort to describe the diet of Seaside Sparrows in southeast Louisiana saltmarshes from 2011-2017 to observe how large-scale ecological disturbances affect diet. The disturbances evaluated include legacy contamination from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill (2010) and widespread site flooding from Hurricane Isaac (2013).