Association of host and microbial species diversity across spatial scales in desert rodent communities.

ABSTRACT: Relationships between host and microbial diversity have important ecological and applied implications. Theory predicts that these relationships will depend on the spatio-temporal scale of the analysis and the niche breadth of the organisms in question, but representative data on host-microbial community assemblage in nature is lacking. We employed a natural gradient of rodent species richness and quantified bacterial communities in rodent blood at several hierarchical spatial scales to test the hypothesis that associations between host and microbial species diversity will be positive in communities dominated by organisms with broad niches sampled at large scales. Following pyrosequencing of rodent blood samples, bacterial communities were found to be comprised primarily of broad niche line

SUBMITTER: Gavish Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4208758 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature