Hite JL, Pfenning‐Butterworth AC, Vetter RE, Cressler CE. A high-throughput method to quantify
feeding rates in aquatic organisms: A case study with
Daphnia.
Ecol Evol 2020;
10:6239-6245. [PMID:
32724510 PMCID:
PMC7381556 DOI:
10.1002/ece3.6352]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2020] [Revised: 04/13/2020] [Accepted: 04/14/2020] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Food ingestion is one of the most basic features of all organisms. However, obtaining precise-and high-throughput-estimates of feeding rates remains challenging, particularly for small, aquatic herbivores such as zooplankton, snails, and tadpoles. These animals typically consume low volumes of food that are time-consuming to accurately measure.We extend a standard high-throughput fluorometry technique, which uses a microplate reader and 96-well plates, as a practical tool for studies in ecology, evolution, and disease biology. We outline technical and methodological details to optimize quantification of individual feeding rates, improve accuracy, and minimize sampling error.This high-throughput assay offers several advantages over previous methods, including i) substantially reduced time allotments per sample to facilitate larger, more efficient experiments; ii) technical replicates; and iii) conversion of in vivo measurements to units (mL-1 hr-1 ind-1) which enables broad-scale comparisons across an array of taxa and studies.To evaluate the accuracy and feasibility of our approach, we use the zooplankton, Daphnia dentifera, as a case study. Our results indicate that this procedure accurately quantifies feeding rates and highlights differences among seven genotypes.The method detailed here has broad applicability to a diverse array of aquatic taxa, their resources, environmental contaminants (e.g., plastics), and infectious agents. We discuss simple extensions to quantify epidemiologically relevant traits, such as pathogen exposure and transmission rates, for infectious agents with oral or trophic transmission.
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