Global change-driven use of onshore habitat impacts polar bear faecal microbiota
| Autor: | Matthew J. Bull, Sarah E. Perkins, Melissa A. McKinney, Sophie E. Watson, Heidi C. Hauffe, Todd C. Atwood, Massimo Pindo |
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| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2019 |
| Předmět: |
DNA
Bacterial Environmental change Ursus maritimus Climate change Animals Wild Biology Microbiology Article 03 medical and health sciences Feces Settore BIO/05 - ZOOLOGIA Abundance (ecology) biology.animal RNA Ribosomal 16S Large carnivore Sea ice Animals Ecosystem Ice Cover Ecology Evolution Behavior and Systematics Phylogeny 030304 developmental biology 0303 health sciences geography geography.geographical_feature_category Bacteria 030306 microbiology Ecology Arctic Regions Metataxonomics Global change Gastrointestinal Microbiome Habitat Ursidae |
| Zdroj: | ISME J |
| ISSN: | 1751-7362 |
| Popis: | The gut microbiota plays a critical role in host health, yet remains poorly studied in wild species. Polar bears (Ursus maritimus), key indicators of Arctic ecosystem health and environmental change, are currently affected by rapid shifts in habitat that may alter gut homeostasis. Declining sea ice has led to a divide in the southern Beaufort Sea polar bear subpopulation such that an increasing proportion of individuals now inhabit onshore coastal regions during the open-water period (‘onshore bears’) while others continue to exhibit their typical behaviour of remaining on the ice (‘offshore bears’). We propose that bears that have altered their habitat selection in response to climate change will exhibit a distinct gut microbiota diversity and composition, which may ultimately have important consequences for their health. Here, we perform the first assessment of abundance and diversity in the faecal microbiota of wild polar bears using 16S rRNA Illumina technology. We find that bacterial diversity is significantly higher in onshore bears compared to offshore bears. The most enriched OTU abundance in onshore bears belonged to the phylum Proteobacteria, while the most depleted OTU abundance within onshore bears was seen in the phylum Firmicutes. We conclude that climate-driven changes in polar bear land use are associated with distinct microbial communities. In doing so, we present the first case of global change mediated alterations in the gut microbiota of a free-roaming wild animal. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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