Cascading effects on bacterial communities: cattle grazing causes a shift in the microbiome of a herbivorous caterpillar.

ABSTRACT: Large mammalian herbivores greatly influence the functioning of grassland ecosystems. Through plant consumption, excreta, and trampling, they modify biodiversity, nutrient cycling, and soil properties. Grazing mammals can also alter soil and rhizosphere bacterial communities, but their effect on the microbiome of other animals in the habitat (i.e., insects) is unknown. Using an experimental field approach and Illumina MiSeq 16S rRNA gene sequencing, we analyzed the influence of cattle grazing on the microbial community of spring webworm caterpillars, Ocnogyna loewii. Our experimental setup included replicated grazed and non-grazed paddocks from which caterpillars were collected twice (first-second and fourth-fifth instar). The caterpillars' microbiome is composed mostly of Proteobacteria a

SUBMITTER: Berman TS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6052054 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature