Trophic Structure Analysis using DNA barcodes and Stable isotopes

了解群落的营养结构对于了解整个潜在的生态系统是必不可少的。稳定同位素分析是重建饮食、描述营养关系、阐明资源分配模式和构建食物网的宝贵技术。同样，DNA条形码在揭示生物体之间的营养相互作用和确定饮食项目方面也有很大用处，但它们通常只能提供主要是局部的、当今相互作用的快照。因此，稳定同位素分析可以通过添加更粗糙但更完整的跨时空食物网络结构的平均值来补充DNA条形码技术。此外，它还允许追踪不断变化的有机体群落中的营养通量。 安大略省生物多样性研究所(BIO)是一个世界领先的研究平台，以其在推动DNA条形码作为一种新的标本鉴定和物种发现方法方面的作用而闻名。这项申请要求提供资金购买必要的设备，以便在BIONIC建立稳定的同位素设施，以进一步探索DNA条形码和稳定同位素比率在与营养和生态系统生态相关的研究中的互补方面。BIO的工作人员在标本处理(管理、数据库、组织采样、摄影、分类学)方面拥有丰富的经验，这将使新的分析平台能够无缝集成。 本申请寻求所需的支持，以获得确定生态学中常用的三个稳定的标准同位素特征(δ？、δ？5N和δ？4S)所需的仪器，以及样品制备所需的设备。该设备将支持四个研究流：研究鳞翅目的饮食多样性，调查农业对食物网络结构的影响，鸟类历史上的饮食结构重构，以及追踪不断变化的植物群落中的碳通量。

Understanding the trophic structure of a community is indispensable to understanding the underlying ecosystem in its entirety. Stable isotope analysis is an invaluable technique for reconstructing diets, characterizing trophic relationships, elucidating patterns of resource allocation, and constructing food webs. Similarly, DNA barcodes have much utility in revealing trophic interactions among organisms and determining diet items but they often can only provide a snapshot of mostly local, present-day interactions. Thus, stable isotope analysis can complement DNA barcoding techniques by adding coarser but more integrated averages of food web structure across space and time. In addition it allows for tracing nutrient fluxes in changing organismal communities. The Biodiversity Institute of Ontario (BIO) is a world-leading research platform best known for its role in advancing DNA barcoding as a new approach for specimen identification and species discovery. This application requests funding to purchase equipment necessary to establish a stable isotope facility at BIO to further explore the complementary aspects of DNA barcoding and stable isotope ratios in research related to trophic and ecosystems ecology. BIO’s staff has extensive experience in the processing of specimens (curation, databasing, tissue sampling, photography, taxonomy) which would allow for the seamless integration of the new analytical platform. This request seeks the support needed to obtain the instrumentation needed to ascertain three standard stable isotopic signatures commonly used in ecology (δ¹³C, δ¹5N, and δ³4S), as well as equipment needed for sample preparation. This equipment would support four research streams: examining the dietary diversity of Lepidoptera, investigating the impact of agriculture on food web structure, historical diet reconstruction in birds, and tracing carbon flux in changing plant communities.