Habitat shapes diversity of gut microbiomes in a wild population of blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus)

Drobniak, Szymon M.; Zagalska-Neubauer, Magdalena; Cichoń, Mariusz

doi:10.32942/osf.io/rb9dv

Cited by 4 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…Surprisingly, we did not detect such an association in BTs. Previous work has shown that differences in habitat composition influence wild bird gut microbiomes [23], specifically, the microbiome similarity between prey and predator (caterpillar – tit) is higher when the prey is captured closer to the nest-box [17]. Our observed interspecific differences could originate from differential foraging behaviors or habitat quality of the proximal environment.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 70%

“…The direct and indirect transfer of maternal microbiomes is likely essential for naturally developing chick microbiomes, as they may lose some gut symbionts due to diet and habitat changes, and during infections with natural pathogens or ones associated with anthropogenic activities [16, 23, 38, 85]. Skewed maternal microbial transfer may reduce competition between parental microbial symbionts sharing the same niches within offspring guts, with potential deleterious effects to chicks [86, 87].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Both species are dimorphic and monogamous, with females building the nest, and laying and incubating the eggs, while both parents feed the brood [42, 44, 45]. BTs and GTs differ in body size [42] and therefore prey selection [46, 47], which is expected to affect gut microbiomes [23, 48].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…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, 16–18] and habitat [19–23] are thought to be the major factors shaping avian gut microbiomes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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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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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 70%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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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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“…Data are available from the Dryad Digital Repository: <https:// doi.org/10.5061/dryad.dbrv15f2c> (Drobniak et al 2021). Sequencing reads (FASTQ files) are available from NCBI SRA under the accession no.…”

Section: Author Contributionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Habitat shapes diversity of gut microbiomes in a wild population of blue tits Cyanistes caeruleus

Drobniak

Cichoń

Janas

et al. 2021

Journal of Avian Biology

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Microbiome constitutes an important axis of individual variation that, together with genes and the environment, influences an individual's physiology and fitness. Microbiomes are dependent not only on an individual's body condition but also on external factors, such as diet or stress levels, and as such can be involved into feedbacks between the external ecological factors and internal physiology. In our study, we used a wild population of blue tits Cyanistes caeruleus to investigate the impact of external habitat composition on the microbiome of adult birds. We hypothesized that -through differences in plant composition, potentially affecting diet complexity -habitat type may impact the diversity and structure of the gut microbiome. Blue tits breeding in dense deciduous forests tended to have more diverse microbiomes and be significantly different in terms of microbiome composition from birds breeding in open, sparsely forested hay meadows. Distinct study plots also tended to differ in a number of parameters describing microbiome diversity. We observed no microbiome differentiation according to individual characteristics such as sex or age. The study emphasizes that external environment is one of the important modulators of microbiome diversity and calls for more such studies in wild animal populations.

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Individual variation in the avian gut microbiota: the influence of host state and environmental heterogeneity

Somers

Davidson

Johnson

et al. 2022

Preprint

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The gut microbiome has important consequences for fitness, yet the complex, interactive nature of ecological factors that influence the gut microbiome has scarcely been investigated in natural populations. We sampled the gut microbiota of wild great tits (Parus major) at different life stages and across multiple conifer and mixed woodland fragments, allowing us to evaluate multiple factors that relate to within-individual gut microbiota acquisition, including habitat type, nest position and life history traits. The gut microbiota varied with both environment and life-history in ways that were largely dependent on age. Notably, it was the nestling, as opposed to the adult gut microbiota that was most sensitive to ecological variation, pointing to a high degree of developmental plasticity. Individual nestling differences in gut microbiota were consistently different (repeatable) from one to two weeks of life, driven entirely by the effect of sharing the same nest. Our findings point to important early developmental windows in which the gut microbiota are most sensitive to environmental variation and suggest reproductive timing, and hence parental quality or food availability, interact with the microbiome.

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Habitat shapes diversity of gut microbiomes in a wild population of blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus)

Cited by 4 publications

References 42 publications

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

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

Habitat shapes diversity of gut microbiomes in a wild population of blue tits Cyanistes caeruleus

Individual variation in the avian gut microbiota: the influence of host state and environmental heterogeneity

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