The Skin Microbiota of Eleutherodactylus Frogs: Effects of Host Ecology, Phylogeny, and Local Environment.

ABSTRACT: Amphibian skin microbiota has a potential protective role against diseases. However, the effects of environmental and host factors on symbiotic bacterial communities are not well understood. Caribbean frogs in the genus Eleutherodactylus represent a case of congeneric species that differ in ecological specialization by the process of adaptive radiation. For a small clade of Eleutherodactylus from Puerto Rico, we investigated the role of local environments, host species, and microhabitat in the composition of their skin microbiome. The potential congruence between microbial communities in hosts that are most closely related phylogenetically was also addressed. We hypothesized that the skin microbiota of Eleutherodactylus frogs would be mostly associated to microhabitat

SUBMITTER: Garcia-Recinos L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6856660 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature