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

Somers, Shane E.; Davidson, Gabrielle L.; Johnson, Crystal N.; Reichert, Michael S.; Crane, Jodie M. S.; Ross, R. Paul; Stanton, Catherine; Quinn, John L.

doi:10.1111/mec.16919

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 164 publications

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“…A plethora of studies have reported robust links between the nesting environment and chick gut microbiota [26,28,36,98]. Our findings align with the "nidobiome" concept, which integrates the collective effects of parents, nest conditions, and nestling interactions during microbiome assembly and their contribution over the developmental stages [24].…”

Section: Age Difference and Nest Similarity Driving Gut Compositional...supporting

confidence: 80%

Early-life factors shaping the gut microbiota of Common buzzard nestlings

Pereira,

Chakarov,

Hoffman

et al. 2024

Preprint

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Background: Exploring the dynamics of gut microbiome colonisation dur-ing early-life stages is important for understanding the potential impact of microbes on host development and fitness. Evidence from model organisms suggests a crucial early-life phase when shifts in gut microbiota can lead to immune dysregulation and reduced host condition. However, our understanding of gut microbiota colonisation in long-lived vertebrates, especially during early development, remains limited. We therefore used a wild population of common buzzard nestlings (Buteo buteo) to investigate connections between the early-life gut microbiota colonisation, environmental and host factors. Results: We targeted both bacterial and eukaryotic microbiota using the 16S and 28S rRNA genes. We sampled the individuals during early developmental stages in a longitudinal design. Our data revealed that age significantly affected microbial diversity and composition. Nest environment was a notable predictor of microbiota composition, with particularly eukaryotic communities differing between habitats occupied by the hosts. Nestling condition explained microbial community composition, while infection with the blood parasite Leucocytozoon was correlated with microbial beta diversity. Conclusion: Our findings emphasise the importance of studying microbiome dynamics to capture changes occurring during ontogeny. They highlight the role of microbial communities in reflecting host health and the importance of the nest environment for the developing nestling microbiome. Overall, this study contributes to understanding the complex interplay between microbial communities,h ost factors, and environmental variables, and sheds light on the mechanisms governing gut microbial colonisation during early-life stages.

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Section: Age Difference and Nest Similarity Driving Gut Compositional...supporting

confidence: 80%

Early-life factors shaping the gut microbiota of Common buzzard nestlings

Pereira,

Chakarov,

Hoffman

et al. 2024

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…A plethora of studies have reported robust links between the nesting environment and chick gut microbiota [ 26 , 28 , 36 , 98 ]. Our findings align with the ”nidobiome” concept, which integrates the collective effects of parents, nest conditions, and nestling interactions during microbiome assembly and their contribution over the developmental stages [ 24 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Early-life factors shaping the gut microbiota of Common buzzard nestlings

Pereira,

Chakarov,

Hoffman

et al. 2024

anim microbiome

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Exploring the dynamics of gut microbiome colonisation during early-life stages is important for understanding the potential impact of microbes on host development and fitness. Evidence from model organisms suggests a crucial early-life phase when shifts in gut microbiota can lead to immune dysregulation and reduced host condition. However, our understanding of gut microbiota colonisation in long-lived vertebrates, especially during early development, remains limited. We therefore used a wild population of common buzzard nestlings (Buteo buteo) to investigate connections between the early-life gut microbiota colonisation, environmental and host factors. Results We targeted both bacterial and eukaryotic microbiota using the 16S and 28S rRNA genes. We sampled the individuals during early developmental stages in a longitudinal design. Our data revealed that age significantly affected microbial diversity and composition. Nest environment was a notable predictor of microbiota composition, with particularly eukaryotic communities differing between habitats occupied by the hosts. Nestling condition and infection with the blood parasite Leucocytozoon predicted microbial community composition. Conclusion Our findings emphasise the importance of studying microbiome dynamics to capture changes occurring during ontogeny. They highlight the role of microbial communities in reflecting host health and the importance of the nest environment for the developing nestling microbiome. Overall, this study contributes to understanding the complex interplay between microbial communities, host factors, and environmental variables, and sheds light on the ecological processes governing gut microbial colonisation during early-life stages.

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“…Parents of altricial young are also likely to provision them with microbes by salivary transfer during feeding (Grond et al ., 2018; Chen et al ., 2020). In addition, extended occupation of the nest increases opportunities for microbial seeding from the nest environment, particularly parental faecal matter (Somers et al ., 2023; Grond et al ., 2018; Dietz et al ., 2019; Diez‐Méndez et al ., 2022; Maraci et al ., 2022 a ). By contrast, precocial chicks establish their microbiota from the environment, within as little as 2 days after hatching (Ballou et al ., 2016; Grond et al ., 2017).…”

Section: Influence Of Early Coprophagy On Gut Microbiome Establishmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impacts of coprophagic foraging behaviour on the avian gut microbiome

Dunbar,

Drigo,

Djordjevic

et al. 2023

Biological Reviews

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Avian gut microbial communities are complex and play a fundamental role in regulating biological functions within an individual. Although it is well established that diet can influence the structure and composition of the gut microbiota, foraging behaviour may also play a critical, yet unexplored role in shaping the composition, dynamics, and adaptive potential of avian gut microbiota. In this review, we examine the potential influence of coprophagic foraging behaviour on the establishment and adaptability of wild avian gut microbiomes. Coprophagy involves the ingestion of faeces, sourced from either self (autocoprophagy), conspecific animals (allocoprophagy), or heterospecific animals. Much like faecal transplant therapy, coprophagy may (i) support the establishment of the gut microbiota of young precocial species, (ii) directly and indirectly provide nutritional and energetic requirements, and (iii) represent a mechanism by which birds can rapidly adapt the microbiota to changing environments and diets. However, in certain contexts, coprophagy may also pose risks to wild birds, and their microbiomes, through increased exposure to chemical pollutants, pathogenic microbes, and antibiotic‐resistant microbes, with deleterious effects on host health and performance. Given the potentially far‐reaching consequences of coprophagy for avian microbiomes, and the dearth of literature directly investigating these links, we have developed a predictive framework for directing future research to understand better when and why wild birds engage in distinct types of coprophagy, and the consequences of this foraging behaviour. There is a need for comprehensive investigation into the influence of coprophagy on avian gut microbiotas and its effects on host health and performance throughout ontogeny and across a range of environmental perturbations. Future behavioural studies combined with metagenomic approaches are needed to provide insights into the function of this poorly understood behaviour.

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

Cited by 5 publications

References 164 publications

Early-life factors shaping the gut microbiota of Common buzzard nestlings

Early-life factors shaping the gut microbiota of Common buzzard nestlings

Early-life factors shaping the gut microbiota of Common buzzard nestlings

Impacts of coprophagic foraging behaviour on the avian gut microbiome

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