Bacterial microbiota similarity between predators and prey in a blue tit trophic network

Dion-Phénix, Hélène; Charmantier, Anne; Franceschi, Christophe de; Bourret, Geneviève; Kembel, Steven W.; Réale, Denis

doi:10.1038/s41396-020-00836-3

Cited by 22 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 74 publications

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“…In support of this, a study on New Guinean birds demonstrated that the GM of smaller passerine species was less stable and more heterogenous than that of larger species, presumably because shorter guts and faster retention times can result in stronger ecological drift and a higher turn-over of bacterial species acquired from environmental sources [ 94 ]. As Seychelles warblers are insectivorous, bacterial species could be readily acquired from their insect prey [ 95 ] as well as from the surrounding environment. As such, differences in GM diversity across individuals could potentially reflect variable uptake from these sources.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gut microbiome composition, not alpha diversity, is associated with survival in a natural vertebrate population

et al. 2021

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Background The vertebrate gut microbiome (GM) can vary substantially across individuals within the same natural population. Although there is evidence linking the GM to health in captive animals, very little is known about the consequences of GM variation for host fitness in the wild. Here, we explore the relationship between faecal microbiome diversity, body condition, and survival using data from the long-term study of a discrete natural population of the Seychelles warbler (Acrocephalus sechellensis) on Cousin Island. To our knowledge, this is the first time that GM differences associated with survival have been fully characterised for a natural vertebrate species, across multiple age groups and breeding seasons. Results We identified substantial variation in GM community structure among sampled individuals, which was partially explained by breeding season (5% of the variance), and host age class (up to 1% of the variance). We also identified significant differences in GM community membership between adult birds that survived, versus those that had died by the following breeding season. Individuals that died carried increased abundances of taxa that are known to be opportunistic pathogens, including several ASVs in the genus Mycobacterium. However, there was no association between GM alpha diversity (the diversity of bacterial taxa within a sample) and survival to the next breeding season, or with individual body condition. Additionally, we found no association between GM community membership and individual body condition. Conclusions These results demonstrate that components of the vertebrate GM can be associated with host fitness in the wild. However, further research is needed to establish whether changes in bacterial abundance contribute to, or are only correlated with, differential survival; this will add to our understanding of the importance of the GM in the evolution of host species living in natural populations.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gut microbiome composition, not alpha diversity, is associated with survival in a natural vertebrate population

et al. 2021

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“…Oviparous birds (class Aves) acquire their initial gut symbionts after hatching, although the sterile nature of eggs and the transfer of maternal microbiota during egg formation is still controversial [13]. Post-hatching, parental and nest microbiomes [14,15] along with diet [7,[16][17][18] and habitat [19][20][21][22][23] are thought to be the major factors shaping avian gut microbiomes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gut microbiome disturbances of altricial Blue and Great tit nestlings are countered by continuous microbial inoculations from parental microbiomes

Diez‐Méndez

Bodawatta

Freiberga

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Gut microbial communities are complex and heterogeneous and play critical roles for animal hosts. Early-life disruptions to microbiome establishment can negatively impact host fitness and development. However, the consequences of such early-life disruptions are unknown in wild birds. To help fill this gap, after validating the disruptive influence of antibiotic and probiotic treatments on the gut microbiome in adult Great tits (Parus major) (efficacy experiment), we investigated the effect of continuous early-life gut microbiome disruptions on the establishment and development of gut communities in wild Great and Blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus) nestlings (field experiment). Despite negative impacts of treatments on microbial alpha and beta diversities in the efficacy experiment, treatment did not affect the composition of nestling microbiomes in the field experiment. Independent of treatment, nestling gut microbiomes of both species grouped by brood, sharing high numbers of bacterial taxa with both the nest environment and their mother. The distance between nests increased inter-brood microbiome dissimilarity, but only in Great tits, indicating species-specific influence of environment on microbiomes. The strong maternal effect, driven by continuous recolonization from the nest environment and vertical transfer of microbes during feeding thus appear to provide resilience towards early-life disruptions in nestling gut microbiomes.

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“…In such a scenario, the consumption of insects would expand their microbial acquisition range, which resembles more that of a flying insect ( Figure 2B ). A transfer of microbes across predator-prey networks has been suggested for insectivorous birds and predatory insects ( Tiede et al, 2017 ; Suenami et al, 2019 ; Dion-Phénix et al, 2021 ). The mammalian microbiota is strongly influenced by species identity and type of diet, but an increase of invertebrate prey (i.e., insects) within the diet correlates with a decrease in bacterial alpha diversity compared to mammals with a primarily herbivorous lifestyle ( Knowles et al, 2019 ; Harrison et al, 2021 ).…”

Section: How Host Movement Shapes the Host Microbiotamentioning

confidence: 99%

Bowel Movement: Integrating Host Mobility and Microbial Transmission Across Host Taxa

Weinhold

2022

Front. Microbiol.

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The gut microbiota of animals displays a high degree of plasticity with respect to environmental or dietary adaptations and is shaped by factors like social interactions, diet diversity or the local environment. But the contribution of these drivers varies across host taxa and our ability to explain microbiome variability within wild populations remains limited. Terrestrial animals have divergent mobility ranges and can either crawl, walk or fly, from a couple of centimeters toward thousands of kilometers. Animal movement has been little regarded in host microbiota frameworks, though it can directly influence major drivers of the host microbiota: (1) Aggregation movement can enhance social transmissions, (2) foraging movement can extend range of diet diversity, and (3) dispersal movement determines the local environment of a host. Here, I would like to outline how movement behaviors of different host taxa matter for microbial acquisition across mammals, birds as well as insects. Host movement can have contrasting effects and either reduce or enlarge spatial scale. Increased dispersal movement could dissolve local effects of sampling location, while aggregation could enhance inter-host transmissions and uniformity among social groups. Host movement can also extend the boundaries of microbial dispersal limitations and connect habitat patches across plant-pollinator networks, while the microbiota of wild populations could converge toward a uniform pattern when mobility is interrupted in captivity or laboratory settings. Hence, the implementation of host movement would be a valuable addition to the metacommunity concept, to comprehend microbial dispersal within and across trophic levels.

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Bacterial microbiota similarity between predators and prey in a blue tit trophic network

Cited by 22 publications

References 74 publications

Gut microbiome composition, not alpha diversity, is associated with survival in a natural vertebrate population

Gut microbiome composition, not alpha diversity, is associated with survival in a natural vertebrate population

Gut microbiome disturbances of altricial Blue and Great tit nestlings are countered by continuous microbial inoculations from parental microbiomes

Bowel Movement: Integrating Host Mobility and Microbial Transmission Across Host Taxa

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