Life history correlates of fecal bacterial species richness in a wild population of the blue tit Cyanistes caeruleus

Ecology and Evolution
Clare McW H BenskinIan R Hartley

Abstract

Very little is known about the normal gastrointestinal flora of wild birds, or how it might affect or reflect the host's life-history traits. The aim of this study was to survey the species richness of bacteria in the feces of a wild population of blue tits Cyanistes caeruleus and to explore the relationships between bacterial species richness and various life-history traits, such as age, sex, and reproductive success. Using PCR-TGGE, 55 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were identified in blue tit feces. DNA sequencing revealed that the 16S rRNA gene was amplified from a diverse range of bacteria, including those that shared closest homology with Bacillus licheniformis, Campylobacter lari, Pseudomonas spp., and Salmonella spp. For adults, there was a significant negative relationship between bacterial species richness and the likelihood of being detected alive the following breeding season; bacterial richness was consistent across years but declined through the breeding season; and breeding pairs had significantly more similar bacterial richness than expected by chance alone. Reduced adult survival was correlated with the presence of an OTU most closely resembling C. lari; enhanced adult survival was associated with an OTU mo...Continue Reading

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Citations

May 6, 2015·Ecology and Evolution·Anders Pape MøllerIsmael Galván
Nov 8, 2018·Current Zoology·Zaid Al RubaieeAnders Pape Møller
Aug 15, 2018·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences·Gabrielle L DavidsonJohn L Quinn
May 10, 2019·FEMS Microbiology Ecology·Roberto AmbrosiniIsabella Gandolfi
Jan 9, 2019·Integrative Organismal Biology·C EscallónI T Moore

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Datasets Mentioned

BETA
AB734778
AB734779

Methods Mentioned

BETA
electrophoresis
PCR
genotyping

Software Mentioned

R
Plus
BLASTn

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