Tree Species Diversity and Forest Edge Density Jointly Shape the Gut Microbiota Composition in Juvenile Great Tits (Parus major).

ABSTRACT: Despite the microbiome's key role in health and fitness, little is known about the environmental factors shaping the gut microbiome of wild birds. With habitat fragmentation being recognised as a major threat to biological diversity, we here determined how forest structure influences the bacterial species richness and diversity of wild great tit nestlings (Parus major). Using an Illumina metabarcoding approach which amplifies the 16S bacterial ribosomal RNA gene, we measured gut microbiota diversity and composition from 49 great tit nestlings, originating from 23 different nests that were located in 22 different study plots across a gradient of forest fragmentation and tree species diversity. Per nest, an average microbiome was determined on which the influence of tree species (comp

SUBMITTER: Goossens E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8959704 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature