Gut microbiota of the threatened takahe: biogeographic patterns and conservation implications.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The Aotearoa New Zealand takahē (Porphyrio hochstetteri), once thought to be extinct, is a nationally threatened flightless rail under intensive conservation management. While there has been previous research into disease-related microbes in takahē, little is known about the microbes present in the gastrointestinal tract. Given the importance of gut-associated microbes to herbivore nutrition and immunity, knowledge of these communities is likely to be of considerable conservation value. Here we examined the gut microbiotas of 57 takahē at eight separate locations across Aotearoa New Zealand.

Results

Faecal samples, taken as a proxy for the hindgut bacterial community, were subjected to 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing using Illumina MiSeq. Phylogenetic analysis o

SUBMITTER: West AG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8790836 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature