Table 5. A comparison of the digesta amplification, using the 18S gene region, from ethanol and frozen preserved individuals.

The ‘genus/species hit count’ refers to the number of sequence reads that matched a high degree of taxonomic resolution (genus and/or species level) from the 18S databases (NCBI, PR2 and SILVA). The ‘diet hit count’ refers to the number of sequence reads matching potential dietary reference sequences in the databases. The ‘diet hit count (%)’ is the percentage of the ‘diet hit count’ out of the total ‘genus/species hit count’.

Preservation	Genus/species hit count	Diet hit count	Diet hit count (%)
Ethanol	165,566	2,028	1
Frozen	94,218	902	1