DOI: 10.5061/dryad.83bk3jb6f
title: DNA metabarcoding reveals unexpected predator-prey-microbial dynamics in the southern right whale (<em>Eubalaena australis</em>)

description: We used DNA metabarcoding to characterise the diet and faecal microbiome
 of southern right whales (Eubalaena australis; SRWs) from three
 calving/socialising grounds and a low-latitude foraging ground. SRW
 feeding was more generalist than previously documented. Decapods
 (crab/prawn/lobster larvae) and shrimp emerged as key components of the
 SRW diet, being detected more frequently and in higher proportions than
 krill or copepods, their known prey. Whale faecal samples from
 calving/socialising grounds also included bivalves and parasites, while
 faecal samples from foraging grounds included a diverse range of prey
 spanning various crustaceans, jellyfish, and other sparsely detected taxa.
 A significant correlation between diet composition and faecal bacterial
 composition was observed, with krill being the strongest predictor of
 bacterial variation. The data here includes supplementary information
 associated with the main article for this study, community matrices for
 bacterial (16S rDNA) and prey (18S rDNA and Crust16S mtDNA) taxa detected
 in SRW faeces and R code used to perform statistical analyses. 
description: # DNA metabarcoding reveals unexpected predator-prey-microbial dynamics in
 the southern right whale (*Eubalaena australis*) Dataset DOI:
 [10.5061/dryad.83bk3jb6f](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.83bk3jb6f) ##
 Description of the data and file structure The data here includes eDNA
 metabarcoding results for the analysis of prey and gut bacterial DNA as
 detected in southern right whale faeces. Sequencing for the two diet
 amplicons (18S rDNA and Crust16S mtDNA) was performed on an Illumina
 NovaSeq X Plus sequencer (2 x 150 paired-end) and bacterial (16S rDNA)
 sequencing was performed on an Illumina MiSeq Genome sequencer (2 x 250 bp
 paired-end). Sequencing results for all three amplicons were processed
 using the Greenfield Hybrid Analysis Pipeline. ### Files and variables
 #### File: metadata-prey.csv **Description:** Sample metadata including
 the relative abundance of prey groups (summarised at the level of order)
 as explanatory variables.  ##### Variables * Sample_ID * Site: Location of
 sample collection * Year: Year of sample collection * Migratory_status:
 Whether sample collected from calving/socialising grounds or foraging
 grounds 
 
 #### File: 16S-com-matrix.csv **Description:** 16S bacteria sample-OTU
 matrix including taxonomic classification of bacterial OTUs and reads of
 each OTU detected in each sample 
 
 #### File: metadata.csv **Description:**  ##### Variables * Sample_ID *
 Site: Location of sample collection * Year: Year of sample collection *
 Migratory_status: Whether sample collected from calving/socialising
 grounds or foraging grounds 
 
 #### File: prey-com-matrix.csv **Description:** Matrix of samples and
 prey taxa (combined results from 18S rDNA and Crust16S mtDNA datasets)
 including taxonomic classification of prey and relative abundance of taxa
 reads detected in each SRW faecal sample 
 
 #### File: SRW-diet-microbiome-stats.R **Description:** R code used to
 perform statistical analyses on prey and bacterial community datasets. 
 
 #### File: Supplementary-information-SRW-diet.pdf (on Zenodo)
 **Description:** Supplementary tables and figures associated with main
 article text. 
 
 #### File: Crust16S-sequences.fa **Description:** Crust16S mtDNA OTU
 sequences (crustacean prey) 
 
 #### File: 18S-sequences.fa **Description:** 18S rDNA OTU sequences
 (eukaryote prey) 
 
 #### File: 16S-sequences.fa **Description:** 16S rDNA OTU sequences
 (faecal bacteria) ## Code/software The code included here can be run in
 R (R version 4.3.1, The R Foundation for Statistical Computing, 2023). ##
 Access information n/a