Delayed feeding disrupts diurnal oscillations in the gut microbiome of a neotropical bat in captivity.

ABSTRACT: Diurnal rhythms of the gut microbiota are emerging as an important yet often overlooked facet of microbial ecology. Feeding is thought to stimulate gut microbial rhythmicity, but this has not been explicitly tested. Moreover, the role of the gut environment is entirely unexplored, with rhythmic changes to gut pH rather than feeding per se possibly affecting gut microbial fluctuations. In this study, we experimentally manipulated the feeding schedule of captive lesser long-nosed bats, Leptonycteris yerbabuenae, to dissociate photic and feeding cues, and measured the faecal microbiota and gut pH every 2 h. We detected strong diurnal rhythms in both microbial alpha diversity and beta diversity as well as in pH within the control group. However, a delay in feeding disrupted oscillations of gut

SUBMITTER: Melville DW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11783575 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature