Fecal Bacterial Community of Allopatric Przewalski’s Gazelles and Their Sympatric Relatives

Abstract

Mammal gastrointestinal tracts harbor diverse bacterial communities that play important roles in digestion, development, behavior, and immune function. Although, there is an increasing understanding of the factors that affect microbial community composition in laboratory populations, the impact of environment and host community composition on microbiomes in wild populations is less understood. Given that the composition of bacterial communities can be shaped by ecological factors, particularly exposure to the microbiome of other individuals, inter-specific interactions should impact on microbiome community composition. Here, we evaluated inter-population and inter-specific similarity in the fecal microbiota of Przewalski’s gazelle (Procapra przewalskii), an endangered endemic ruminant around Qinghai Lake in China. We compared the fecal bacterial communities of three Przewalski’s gazelle populations, with those of two sympatric ruminants, Tibetan gazelle (Procapra picticaudata) and Tibetan sheep (Ovis aries). The fecal bacterial community richness (Chao1, ACE) did not vary across the three Przewalski’s gazelle populations, nor did the composition vary between species. In contrast, the managed Przewalski’s gazelle population had higher bacterial diversity (Shannon and Simpson) and was more similar to its sympatric Tibetan sheep in beta diversity than the wild Przewalski’s gazelle populations. These results suggest that ecological factors like host community composition or diet affect Przewalski’s gazelle’s gastrointestinal bacterial community. The role of bacterial community composition in maintaining gastrointestinal health should be assessed to improve conservation management of endangered Przewalski’s gazelle. More broadly, captive breeding and reintroduction efforts may be impeded, where captive management results in dysbiosis and introduction of pathogenic bacteria. In free ranging populations, where wildlife and livestock co-occur, infection by domestic pathogens and diseases may be an underappreciated threat to wild animals.

Assessment of Adaptation Status of Reintroduced Equus Przewalskii Based on Comparative Analysis of Fecal Bacteria with Those of Captive E. Przewalskii, Domestic Horse and Mongolian Wild Ass

“…Thus, the differences in bacterial community composition between wild and captive animals may result from the differences in diet. A similar result was also found by Liu et al (2021) [ 46 ] that the bacterial beta diversity of the wild population was distinct from that of the captive population.…”

Seasonal Differences in Fecal Microbial Community Structure and Metabolism of House-Feeding Chinese Merino Fine-Wool Sheep

“…The blood physiological atlas provides a reliable information about the health of animals, and also reflects their response to internal and external environment ( 24 , 25 ). However, as the season changes, intestinal microbes and blood physiology also change ( 26 , 27 ). However, with seasonal changes, the relationship between intestinal microbes and blood physiological indicators are still unclear.…”

Different living environments drive deterministic microbial community assemblages in the gut of Alpine musk deer (Moschus chrysogaster)

“…Numerous studies have shown decreasing community similarity with increasing differences between habitats and species (Liu et al, 2021;Barrionuevo et al, 2022;Yang et al, 2022), and that animal sex is also a predominant factor affecting the gut microbiota (Zhang et al, 2022). Although the direct analysis method did not reflect the differences in gut microbiota by sex (Supplementary Figure 2B), significant differences were revealed by using a supervised analysis method (PLS-DA) (Figure 2).…”