Analyzing Vomit of Platalea minor (Black-faced Spoonbill) to Identify Food Components using Next-Generation Sequencing and Microscopy

We sampled vomit of black-faced spoonbills (Platalea minor) during the brood-rearing season (from June 2011 to June 2014) at the Namdong reservoir in Incheon and analyzed the food components in the vomit using microscopy and next-generation sequencing (NGS). Microscopic observations primarily helped in identifying osteichthyes (bony fishes), crustaceans, and polychaetes. In particular, species belonging to the families Mugilidae and Gobiidae among the fish, and Macrophthalmus japonicas among the crustaceans, were observed at high frequency. Results of NGS analysis reveal ed the predominant presence of bony fish (42.58% of total reads) and crustaceans (40.75% of total reads), whereas others, such as polychaetes (12.66%), insects (0.24%), and unidentified species (3.78%), occurred in lower proportions. At the species level, results of NGS analysis revealed that Macrophthalmus abbreviates and Macrobrachium sp. among the crustaceans, and Acanthogobius hasta, Tridentiger obscurus, and Pterogobius zacalles among the bony fish, made up a high proportion of the total reads. These food species are frequently found at tidal flats in the Songdo and Sihwa lakes, emphasizing the importance of these areas as potential feeding sites of the black-faced spoonbill. Feed composition of the black-faced spoonbill, as evaluated by analyzing its vomit, differed when the evaluations were done by microscopic observation or by NGS analysis. Evaluation by microscopic observation is difficult and not error free, owing to the degradation of the samples to be analyzed; however, NGS analysis is more accurate, because it <Original article> Hyun-Jung Kim, Taek-Kyun Lee, Seung Won Jung, In-Ki Kwon and Jae-Won Yoo 166