Determination of trophic relationships between marine predators and commercial marine living resources

Metadata record for data from ASAC Project 2301 See the link below for public details on this project.---- Public Summary from Project ----This study develops and combines the latest molecular and electronics technology into a comprehensive investigation of diet and food-web relationships of Southern Ocean predators (whales, seals, penguins) and commercial marine resources (krill, fish, squid). This type of information is essential for ecosystem models that set sustainable catch limits for fisheries.From the abstract of the referenced paper:We describe seven group-specific primer pairs that amplify small sections of ribosomal RNA genes suitable for identification of animal groups of major importance as prey items in marine ecosystems. These primer sets allow the isolation of DNA from the target animal groups from mixed pools of DNA, where DNA-based identification using universal primers is unlikely to succeed. The primers are designed for identifying prey and animal diets, but could be used in any situation where these animal groups are to be identified by their DNA.Progress report from the 2006/2007 Season:Overall objectiveThis new multi-year initiative project within the AMLR program aims to develop and combine the latest molecular and electronics technology to facilitate a comprehensive investigation of appropriately scaled and strategically located trophodynamics of Southern Ocean higher marine predators and commercial marine living resources. The objectives and early experimental design are largely responsive to needs determined by the Australian Antarctic Division's core-function obligations to CCAMLR, as well as other international organisations, the most relevant of which are the International Whaling Commission (IWC) and Southern Ocean Global Ocean Ecology Dynamics (SO-GLOBEC).Traditionally studies of diet of higher predators have often relied upon the use of a single, uncalibrated, methodology, and samples are usually collected in a manner that precludes stratification by age and sex class. Such studies are often subordinate experiments to a larger overall project. In contrast, the power of this new initiative project will be its focus on calibration across a suite of established and novel molecular and macroscopic techniques, feeding trials in controlled situations, direct linkage of samples to age and sex classes, and a detailed knowledge of the foraging behaviour of a sub-set of sampled animals. The parallel development and incorporation of electronic tools to measure predator foraging ecology further strengthens this work.In order to achieve the aims of this study a multi-disciplinary, widely collaborative and multi-streamed program has been developed. Methodological development underpins the potential power of this project to delivery its objectives. The detailed design-phase of incorporating these new approaches into an experimental framework will follow this developmental phase. In order to best represent the sub-objectives of each phase of this study, the work has been divided into the following core components:* Experimental Design (phase 1: methodological development)* Development of DNA-based molecular techniques to measure prey harvesting* Validation trials of molecular techniques* Modelling/analysis to develop a matrix of methodologies to best predict prey composition in predator diet* Development of electronic equipment to measure prey harvesting* Validation trials of electronic equipment* Experimental Design (phase 2: ecological experiments)* Integrated, question driven, field experimentsSome components of this work will run contemporaneously (eg. development of molecular and electronic tools).This project has now been completed. The novel DNA based methods for studying animal diet have been researched thoroughly in controlled conditions and demonstrated to be useful and an advance on existing methods. The DNA based dietary methods have also been successfully applied to studying the diet of Blue whales, Fin whales, Antarctic fur seals, Macaroni penguins, Antarctic krill and bottlenose dolphins.

本数据集元数据来自ASAC项目2301号，有关该项目的公开详情请见下方链接。——项目公开摘要——
本研究将前沿分子与电子技术相结合，对南大洋捕食者（鲸类、海豹、企鹅）及商业海洋资源（磷虾、鱼类、头足类）的食性与食物网关系开展系统性调查。此类信息对于构建渔业可持续捕捞限额所需的生态系统模型至关重要。

引自相关论文的摘要：
我们设计了7组类群特异性引物对，可扩增核糖体RNA基因的特定小段序列，用于识别海洋生态系统中作为关键饵料类群的动物类群。该引物组可从混合DNA样本中分离得到目标动物类群的DNA，而使用通用引物进行DNA鉴定往往难以在这类混合样本中成功实现。本引物组专为饵料与动物食性鉴定设计，但也可应用于任何需要通过DNA识别上述动物类群的场景。

2006/2007年度项目进展报告：
总体目标
本项目属于AMLR计划下的长期研究计划，旨在整合前沿分子与电子技术，对南大洋高层海洋捕食者与商业海洋生物资源的、尺度适配且布局合理的营养动力学开展系统性调查。本项目的目标与早期实验设计，主要响应澳大利亚南极署对CCAMLR（南极海洋生物资源养护委员会，Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources）的核心职能义务，以及其他国际组织的相关需求，其中最相关的机构包括国际捕鲸委员会（IWC，International Whaling Commission）与南大洋全球海洋生态动力学计划（SO-GLOBEC，Southern Ocean Global Ocean Ecology Dynamics）。

传统的高层捕食者食性研究通常仅采用单一且未校准的方法，且样本采集方式往往无法按年龄与性别阶层进行分层；此类研究通常作为大型整体项目的附属子实验存在。与之相对，本新型研究计划的核心优势在于：聚焦对一系列成熟与新兴分子、宏观技术开展校准，在受控环境下开展摄食试验，将样本直接对应至年龄与性别阶层，同时对部分采样个体的觅食行为开展细致研究。同步开发并集成用于监测捕食者觅食生态的电子工具，进一步强化了本项目的研究能力。

为实现本研究目标，项目组开发了一套多学科、广泛协作且多线并行的研究方案。方法学开发是本项目达成研究目标的核心支撑。在本开发阶段之后，将进入将这些新方法整合至实验框架的详细设计阶段。为清晰体现本研究各阶段的子目标，项目工作被划分为以下核心模块：
* 实验设计（第一阶段：方法学开发）
* 开发基于DNA的分子技术以评估饵料获取情况
* 分子技术验证试验
* 构建方法学矩阵以最优预测捕食者食性中的饵料组成，开展建模与分析
* 开发用于评估饵料获取情况的电子设备
* 电子设备验证试验
* 实验设计（第二阶段：生态实验）
* 以问题为导向的集成野外实验

部分工作模块将同步推进（例如分子与电子工具的开发）。

本项目现已完成。用于研究动物食性的新型DNA技术已在受控条件下完成充分研究，被证实具备实用性且优于现有技术手段。基于DNA的食性分析方法还已成功应用于蓝鲸、长须鲸、南极海狗、马可罗尼企鹅、南极磷虾与宽吻海豚的食性研究。