Amphibian gut microbiota shifts differentially in community structure but converges on habitat-specific predicted functions.

ABSTRACT: Complex microbial communities inhabit vertebrate digestive systems but thorough understanding of the ecological dynamics and functions of host-associated microbiota within natural habitats is limited. We investigate the role of environmental conditions in shaping gut and skin microbiota under natural conditions by performing a field survey and reciprocal transfer experiments with salamander larvae inhabiting two distinct habitats (ponds and streams). We show that gut and skin microbiota are habitat-specific, demonstrating environmental factors mediate community structure. Reciprocal transfer reveals that gut microbiota, but not skin microbiota, responds differentially to environmental change. Stream-to-pond larvae shift their gut microbiota to that of pond-to-pond larvae, whereas pond-to-s

SUBMITTER: Bletz MC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5171763 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature