Gut microbial ecology of the Critically Endangered Fijian crested iguana (Brachylophus vitiensis): Effects of captivity status and host reintroduction on endogenous microbiomes

Abstract

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Comparison of Gut Microbiota Diversity Between Captive and Wild Tokay Gecko (Gekko gecko)

“…Currently, the gut microbiota has been widely studied in invertebrates (Clark and Walker, 2018), amphibians (Bletz et al, 2016) and reptiles (Trevelline et al, 2019;Zhang et al, 2019Eliades et al, 2021, mammals (Hu et al, 2017;Song et al, 2017;Li et al, 2021), and birds (Ryu et al, 2012;Waite et al, 2012;Grond et al, 2018). In recent years, research into the gut microbiota in captive animals, such as Takydromus septentrionalis (Zhou et al, 2020), Neotoma albigula (Martínez-Mota et al, 2020), and Macaca mulatta (Chen et al, 2019) has also attracted extensive attention.…”

“…In recent years, research into the gut microbiota in captive animals, such as Takydromus septentrionalis (Zhou et al, 2020), Neotoma albigula (Martínez-Mota et al, 2020), and Macaca mulatta (Chen et al, 2019) has also attracted extensive attention. The gut microbiota of captive animals may differ from those of wild animals due to dietary differences, antibiotic treatment, human activities, and exposure to other species in captivity (Alfano et al, 2015;Clayton et al, 2016;Chen et al, 2019;Eliades et al, 2021). Studies on mammals and reptilessuch as Hydrorga leptonyx (Nelson et al, 2013), Peromyscus maniculatus (Schmidt et al, 2019), Macaca mulatta (Chen et al, 2019) and Shinisaurus crocodilurus (Jiang et al, 2017), Crocodylus siamensis (Lin et al, 2019), and Brachylophus vitiensis (Eliades et al, 2021)-have confirmed that captivity may change the composition and abundance of the gut microbiota.…”

“…The gut microbiota of captive animals may differ from those of wild animals due to dietary differences, antibiotic treatment, human activities, and exposure to other species in captivity (Alfano et al, 2015;Clayton et al, 2016;Chen et al, 2019;Eliades et al, 2021). Studies on mammals and reptilessuch as Hydrorga leptonyx (Nelson et al, 2013), Peromyscus maniculatus (Schmidt et al, 2019), Macaca mulatta (Chen et al, 2019) and Shinisaurus crocodilurus (Jiang et al, 2017), Crocodylus siamensis (Lin et al, 2019), and Brachylophus vitiensis (Eliades et al, 2021)-have confirmed that captivity may change the composition and abundance of the gut microbiota. Moreover, captivity may lead to an increase in potential pathogens in the animal gut microbiota, leading to an increased incidence of disease (Berry et al, 2012;Amato et al, 2016;Kohl et al, 2016;Xie et al, 2016).…”

“…Conversely, a few studies reported that captivity may improve host immune status (Montalban-Arques et al, 2015), and even have beneficial effects on the development and behavior of the host (Heijtz et al, 2011). Therefore, an evaluation of the effects of captivity on the gut microbiota of wild animals in conservation and rescue breeding is necessary (Eliades et al, 2021).…”

Gut microbial ecology of Philippine gekkonids: ecoevolutionary effects on microbiome compositions

“…Geckos were captured by hand between 1600 and 0200 h and for all locality records we used the WGS-84 datum. We collected cloacal swabs to inventory host-associated gut microbial communities, which have been shown to be effective proxies for endogenous microbiome sampling in reptiles (Colston et al 2015 , Eliades et al 2021 ). To collect cloacal microbiome samples, we inserted sterile rayon-tipped swabs approximately 3 cm into the cloacal opening of each animal and rotated them 10 times (Smith et al 2021 ).…”