Captivity Influences Gut Microbiota in Crocodile Lizards (Shinisaurus crocodilurus).

Guo-Shuai Tang,Jin-Ping Chen,Ting-Ting Wang,Bao-Jun Sun,Wei-Guo Du,Xi-Xi Liang,Huan Li,Meng-Yuan Yang

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2020.00550

Abstract

Captivity is an important measure for conservation of an endangered species, and it is becoming a hot topic in conservation biology, which integrates gut microbiota and endangered species management in captivity. As an ancient reptile, the crocodile lizard (Shinisaurus crocodilurus) is facing extreme danger of extinction, resulting in great significance to species conservation in the reserve. Thus, it is critical to understand the differences in gut microbiota composition between captive and wild populations, as it could provide fundamental information for conservative management of crocodile lizards. Here, fecal samples of crocodile lizards were collected from two wild and one captive populations with different ages (i.e., juveniles and adults) and were analyzed for microbiota composition by 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene amplicon sequencing. This study showed that the lizard gut microbiota was mainly composed of Firmicutes and Proteobacteria. The gut microbiota composition of crocodile lizard did not differ between juveniles and adults, as well as between two wild populations. Interestingly, captivity increased community richness and influenced community structures of gut microbiota in crocodile lizards, compared with wild congeners. This was indicated by higher abundances of the genera Epulopiscium and Glutamicibacter. These increases might be induced by complex integration of simple food resources or human contact in captivity. The gut microbiota functions of crocodile lizards are primarily enriched in metabolism, environmental information processing, genetic information processing, and cellular processes based on the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) database. This study provides fundamental information about the gut microbiota of crocodile lizards in wild and captive populations. In the future, exploring the relationship among diet, gut microbiota, and host health is necessary for providing animal conservation strategies.

Highlights

Bringing animals into captivity and maintaining breeding populations in natural reserves is an important measure undertaken to protect the declining biodiversity of endangered species (Redford and Mcaloose, 2012)
The results indicated that the community richness of the captive population was clearly higher than wild populations of Yusan stream (Z = −3.170, P < 0.05) and Dachai stream (Z = −3.239, P < 0.05), but no significant difference was detected between two wild populations (Z = −1.362, P = 0.173) (Figure 3A)
This study revealed the similarity of gut microbiota between adult and juvenile crocodile lizards, both in the captive and wild environments as well as between two wild populations

Summary

Introduction

Bringing animals into captivity and maintaining breeding populations in natural reserves is an important measure undertaken to protect the declining biodiversity of endangered species (Redford and Mcaloose, 2012). The crested ibis Nipponia nippon was once thought extinct before seven individuals were rediscovered in 1981. The individual number increased to more than 200, including 130 in captivity by 2000 (Xi et al, 2002). Meta-analysis of marine reserves indicates that there are 3.7 times more fish populations inside the reserves than outside (Mosquera et al, 2000). Given the control of fundamental information of species and scientific management by the scientific community, capacity and breeding populations in natural reserves can effectively manage and conserve endangered species and their biodiversity (Ebenhard, 1995)

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