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Wild gut microbiomes reveal individuals, species, and location as drivers of variation in two critically endangered Hawaiian honeycreepers

BACKGROUND: The gut microbiome of animals is an important component that has strong influence on the health, fitness, and behavior of its host. Most research in the microbiome field has focused on human populations and commercially important species. However, researchers are now considering the link...

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Autores principales: Costantini, Maria S., Medeiros, Matthew C.I., Crampton, Lisa H., Reed, Floyd A.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: PeerJ Inc. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8557688/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34760361
http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.12291
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author Costantini, Maria S.
Medeiros, Matthew C.I.
Crampton, Lisa H.
Reed, Floyd A.
author_facet Costantini, Maria S.
Medeiros, Matthew C.I.
Crampton, Lisa H.
Reed, Floyd A.
author_sort Costantini, Maria S.
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: The gut microbiome of animals is an important component that has strong influence on the health, fitness, and behavior of its host. Most research in the microbiome field has focused on human populations and commercially important species. However, researchers are now considering the link between endangered species conservation and the microbiome. In Hawaiʻi, several threats (e.g., avian malaria and habitat loss) have caused widespread population declines of Hawaiian honeycreepers (subfamily: Carduelinae). These threats can have a significant effect on the avian gut microbiome and may even lead to disruption of microbial function. However, the gut microbiome of honeycreeper in the wild has yet to be explored. METHODS: We collected 13 and 42 fecal samples, respectively, from two critically endangered honeycreeper species, the ʻakikiki (Oreomystis bairdi) and the ʻakekeʻe (Loxops caeruleirostris). The 16S rRNA gene was sequenced and processed though a MOTHUR-based bioinformatics pipeline. Bacterial ASVs were identified using the DADA2 program and bacterial community analyses, including alpha and beta diversity measures, were conducted using R packages Phyloseq and vegan. RESULTS: A total of 8,958 bacterial ASVs were identified from the fecal samples. Intraspecific differences in the gut microbiome among individual birds explained most of the variation present in the dataset, however differences between species did exist. Both species had distinct microbiomes with minimal overlap in beta diversity. ‘Akikiki had a more diverse microbiome compared to ‘akekeʻe. Additionally, small but stastically significant differences in beta diversity also exist between sampling location and sexes in ʻakikiki. CONCLUSION: ʻAkikiki and ʻakekeʻe are currently the focus of captive breeding efforts and plans to translocate the two species to other islands are underway. This baseline knowledge will help inform management decisions for these honeycreeper species in their native habitats, on other islands, and in captivity.
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spelling pubmed-85576882021-11-09 Wild gut microbiomes reveal individuals, species, and location as drivers of variation in two critically endangered Hawaiian honeycreepers Costantini, Maria S. Medeiros, Matthew C.I. Crampton, Lisa H. Reed, Floyd A. PeerJ Ecology BACKGROUND: The gut microbiome of animals is an important component that has strong influence on the health, fitness, and behavior of its host. Most research in the microbiome field has focused on human populations and commercially important species. However, researchers are now considering the link between endangered species conservation and the microbiome. In Hawaiʻi, several threats (e.g., avian malaria and habitat loss) have caused widespread population declines of Hawaiian honeycreepers (subfamily: Carduelinae). These threats can have a significant effect on the avian gut microbiome and may even lead to disruption of microbial function. However, the gut microbiome of honeycreeper in the wild has yet to be explored. METHODS: We collected 13 and 42 fecal samples, respectively, from two critically endangered honeycreeper species, the ʻakikiki (Oreomystis bairdi) and the ʻakekeʻe (Loxops caeruleirostris). The 16S rRNA gene was sequenced and processed though a MOTHUR-based bioinformatics pipeline. Bacterial ASVs were identified using the DADA2 program and bacterial community analyses, including alpha and beta diversity measures, were conducted using R packages Phyloseq and vegan. RESULTS: A total of 8,958 bacterial ASVs were identified from the fecal samples. Intraspecific differences in the gut microbiome among individual birds explained most of the variation present in the dataset, however differences between species did exist. Both species had distinct microbiomes with minimal overlap in beta diversity. ‘Akikiki had a more diverse microbiome compared to ‘akekeʻe. Additionally, small but stastically significant differences in beta diversity also exist between sampling location and sexes in ʻakikiki. CONCLUSION: ʻAkikiki and ʻakekeʻe are currently the focus of captive breeding efforts and plans to translocate the two species to other islands are underway. This baseline knowledge will help inform management decisions for these honeycreeper species in their native habitats, on other islands, and in captivity. PeerJ Inc. 2021-10-28 /pmc/articles/PMC8557688/ /pubmed/34760361 http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.12291 Text en © 2021 Costantini et al. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
spellingShingle Ecology
Costantini, Maria S.
Medeiros, Matthew C.I.
Crampton, Lisa H.
Reed, Floyd A.
Wild gut microbiomes reveal individuals, species, and location as drivers of variation in two critically endangered Hawaiian honeycreepers
title Wild gut microbiomes reveal individuals, species, and location as drivers of variation in two critically endangered Hawaiian honeycreepers
title_full Wild gut microbiomes reveal individuals, species, and location as drivers of variation in two critically endangered Hawaiian honeycreepers
title_fullStr Wild gut microbiomes reveal individuals, species, and location as drivers of variation in two critically endangered Hawaiian honeycreepers
title_full_unstemmed Wild gut microbiomes reveal individuals, species, and location as drivers of variation in two critically endangered Hawaiian honeycreepers
title_short Wild gut microbiomes reveal individuals, species, and location as drivers of variation in two critically endangered Hawaiian honeycreepers
title_sort wild gut microbiomes reveal individuals, species, and location as drivers of variation in two critically endangered hawaiian honeycreepers
topic Ecology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8557688/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34760361
http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.12291
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