Comparative study of gut microbiota reveals the adaptive strategies of gibbons living in suboptimal habitats.

ABSTRACT: Wild animals face numerous challenges in less ideal habitats, including the lack of food as well as changes in diet. Understanding how the gut microbiomes of wild animals adapt to changes in food resources within suboptimal habitats is critical for their survival. Therefore, we conducted a longitudinal sampling of three gibbon species living in high-quality (Nomascus hainanus) and suboptimal (Nomascus concolor and Hoolock tianxing) habitats to address the dynamics of gut microbiome assembly over one year. The three gibbon species exhibited significantly different gut microbial diversity and composition. N. hainanus showed the lowest alpha diversity and highest nestedness, suggesting a more specialized and potentially stable microbial community in terms of composition, while H. tianxing dis

SUBMITTER: Lan LY 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11828964 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature