Skin Microbiomes of California Terrestrial Salamanders Are Influenced by Habitat More Than Host Phylogeny.

ABSTRACT: A multitude of microorganisms live on and within plant and animal hosts, yet the ecology and evolution of these microbial communities remains poorly understood in many taxa. This study examined the extent to which environmental factors and host taxonomic identity explain microbiome variation within two salamander genera, Ensatina and Batrachoseps, in the family Plethodontidae. In particular, we assessed whether microbiome differentiation paralleled host genetic distance at three levels of taxonomy: genus and high and low clade levels within Ensatina eschscholtzii. We predicted that more genetically related host populations would have more similar microbiomes than more distantly related host populations. We found that salamander microbiomes possess bacterial species tha

SUBMITTER: Bird AK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5861191 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature