Effects of parental care on skin microbial community composition in poison frogs.

ABSTRACT: Parent-offspring interactions constitute the first contact of many newborns with their environment, priming community assembly of microbes through priority effects and shaping host health and disease. Microbe acquisition during parental care is well studied in humans and agriculturally relevant species but remains poorly understood in other vertebrate groups, such as amphibians. Here, we investigate vertical transmission of skin microbiota in poison frogs (Dendrobatidae), where fathers transport tadpoles piggyback-style from terrestrial clutches to aquatic nurseries. We found that substantial bacterial colonization of embryos begins after hatching, suggesting that the vitelline envelope acts as a microbial barrier. A cross-foster experiment demonstrated that poison frogs performing

SUBMITTER: Fischer MT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12313234 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature