DNA metabarcoding reveals changes in the contents of carnivorous plants along an elevation gradient

Resource variation along abiotic gradients influences subsequent trophic interactions and these effects can be transmitted through entire food webs. Interactions along abiotic gradients can provide clues as to how organisms will face changing environmental conditions, such as future range shifts. However, it is challenging to find replicated systems to study these effects. Phytotelmata, such as those found in carnivorous plants, are isolated aquatic communities and thus form a good model for the study of replicated food webs. Due to the degraded nature of the prey, molecular techniques provide a useful tool to study these communities. We studied the pitcher plant Sarracenia purpurea L. in allochthonous populations along an elevational gradient in the Alps and Jura. We predicted that invertebrate richness in the contents of the pitcher plants would decrease with increasing elevation, reflecting harsher environmental conditions. Using metabarcoding of the COI gene, we sequenced the invert...

非生物梯度上的资源变异会影响后续的营养级互作，且此类效应可在整个食物网中传递。非生物梯度下的营养互作，可为揭示生物如何应对环境变化（如未来的物种分布范围迁移）提供重要线索。然而，寻找可重复的研究系统以探究此类效应颇具挑战。植物积水器（phytotelmata），如食肉植物所形成的瓶状积水结构，属于孤立的水生群落，因此是研究可重复食物网的理想模型体系。由于猎物多已降解、难以直接辨识，分子技术为这类群落的研究提供了有效手段。我们针对阿尔卑斯山脉与汝拉山脉海拔梯度上的异地种群（allochthonous populations）中的紫瓶子草（Sarracenia purpurea L.）展开了研究。我们提出假说：瓶状植物体内含物中的无脊椎动物丰富度会随海拔升高而降低，以反映环境条件随海拔上升愈发严苛的特征。借助COI基因的元条形码（metabarcoding）技术，我们对无脊椎动物（invert...）进行了测序。