DNA metabarcoding reveals unexpected predator-prey-microbial dynamics in the southern right whale (<em>Eubalaena australis</em>)

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.