A1 Journal article (refereed)
Comparison of Bayesian and numerical optimization-based diet estimation on herbivorous zooplankton (2020)

Litmanen, J. J., Perälä, T. A., & Taipale, S. J. (2020). Comparison of Bayesian and numerical optimization-based diet estimation on herbivorous zooplankton. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B : Biological Sciences, 375(1804), Article 20190651. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0651

JYU authors or editors

Publication details

All authors or editors: Litmanen, Jaakko J.; Perälä, Tommi A.; Taipale, Sami J.

Journal or series: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B : Biological Sciences

ISSN: 0962-8436

eISSN: 1471-2970

Publication year: 2020

Volume: 375

Issue number: 1804

Article number: 20190651

Publisher: The Royal Society Publishing

Publication country: United Kingdom

Publication language: English

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0651

Publication open access: Not open

Publication channel open access: 

Publication is parallel published (JYX): https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/74598

Abstract

Consumer diet estimation with biotracer-based mixing models provides valuable information about trophic interactions and the dynamics of complex ecosystems. Here, we assessed the performance of four Bayesian and three numerical optimization-based diet estimation methods for estimating the diet composition of herbivorous zooplankton using consumer fatty acid (FA) profiles and resource library consisting of the results of homogeneous diet feeding experiments. The method performance was evaluated in terms of absolute errors, central probability interval checks, the success in identifying the primary resource in the diet, and the ability to detect the absence of resources in the diet. Despite occasional large inconsistencies, all the methods were able to identify the primary resource most of the time. The numerical optimization method QFASA using χ2(QFASA-CS) or Kullback­–Leibler (QFASA-KL) distance measures had the smallest absolute errors, most frequently found the primary resource, and adequately detected the absence of resources. While the Bayesian methods usually performed well, some of the methods produced ambiguous results and some had much longer computing times than QFASA. Therefore, we recommend using QFASA-CS or QFASA-KL. Our systematic tests showed that FA models can be used to accurately estimate complex dietary mixtures in herbivorous zooplankton.

Keywords: nutrients (animals and humans); food webs; plankton; Cladocera; estimating (statistical methods); Bayesian analysis

Free keywords: QFASA; Daphnia; FASTAR; MixSIAR; biotracers; food web

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Related projects

Ministry reporting: Yes

VIRTA submission year: 2020

JUFO rating: 2