Diet analysis of Kittiwake and Shag using DNA metabarcoding of faeces

DNA metabarcoding data from individual Kittiwake and Shag faeces samples collected from locations along the west of Scotland during the 2023 breeding season. Used in the puplication - O’Hanlon, N.J., Jardine, D.C., Lennon, J., Svobodova, D., Swann, R.L., Ward, R.M., Humphreys, E.M. & Morrissey, B.J. 2025 Diet analysis of Kittiwake and Shag using DNA metabarcoding of faeces 10.61350/sbj.37.5

Thanks to Mark Constantine for funding this project, and to David Agombar for facilitating this process. Thanks to everyone who helped collect faeces samples in the field including members of Highland Ringing Group on Canna and members of the Treshnish Isles Auk Ringing Group and Shiants Seabird Research Group. Thanks also to Gemma Clucas for invaluable advice when planning this project and Ian Cleasby for help with the R scripts.

Please refer to the metadata for a more detailed description, and for information on dataset usage. We would also greatly appreciate if you could fill out this very short form to tell us how you intend to use these data. Thanks in advance!