Influence of management practice on the microbiota of a critically endangered species: a longitudinal study of kakapo chick faeces and associated nest litter.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The critically endangered kākāpō is a flightless, nocturnal parrot endemic to Aotearoa New Zealand. Recent efforts to describe the gastrointestinal microbial community of this threatened herbivore revealed a low-diversity microbiota that is often dominated by Escherichia-Shigella bacteria. Given the importance of associated microbial communities to animal health, and increasing appreciation of their potential relevance to threatened species conservation, we sought to better understand the development of this unusual gut microbiota profile. To this end, we conducted a longitudinal analysis of faecal material collected from kākāpō chicks during the 2019 breeding season, in addition to associated nest litter material.

Results

Using an experimental approach rarely see

SUBMITTER: West AG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9523977 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature