Metabarcoding of Invertebrate Prey in Peromyscus leucopus Across a Rural-to-Urban Gradient in New York

Abstract

It is projected that by the year 2050 at least 68% percent of the world's human population will be urbanized. With rampant urbanization comes an onset of ecological implications, many of which can be measured through the study of urban adapters. The white-footed mouse (Peromyscus leucopus) is a species of small rodent found in high abundance across much of North and Central America. Equipped with a generalist diet, P. leucopus, is well suited for survival in a multitude of divergent environments. Recent studies suggest P. leucopus is adapting at the genetic level to differences brought upon by urbanization, potentially driven by shifts in diet. Using a COI metabarcoding approach, this study sought to examine the links between local genetic adaptation and diet in populations of P. leucopus as a response to urbanization, across a rural-to-urban gradient in New York State. Deep sequencing revealed the diet of P. leucopus is comprised largely of fungal and arthropod sources, especially Otiorhynchus singularis. Populations of P. leucopus in non-rural areas were also found not only to be consuming more arthropods on average than those in rural areas, but also to be supplementing their diets through interorder predation and coprophagia. These results confirm that urban and rural populations of P. leucopus do in fact have disparate diets, ultimately supporting the idea urban white-footed mice are genetically adapting to tolerate an urbanized diet.