Exploring the potential effects of forest urbanization on the interplay between small mammal communities and their gut microbiota.

ABSTRACT: Urbanization significantly impacts wild populations, favoring urban dweller species over those that are unable to adapt to rapid changes. These differential adaptative abilities could be mediated by the microbiome, which may modulate the host phenotype rapidly through a high degree of flexibility. Conversely, under anthropic perturbations, the microbiota of some species could be disrupted, resulting in dysbiosis and negative impacts on host fitness. The links between the impact of urbanization on host communities and their gut microbiota (GM) have only been scarcely explored. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that the bacterial composition of the GM could play a role in host adaptation to urban environments. We described the GM of several species of small terrestrial mammals sampled

SUBMITTER: Bouilloud M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10964555 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature