Abstract
In many seabirds, individuals abstain from eating during the moult period. Penguins have an intense moult that lasts for weeks, during which they are confined to land. Despite the importance for survival, it is still unclear how the faecal microbiota of Antarctic penguins changes in response to the moult fast. Here, we investigated the faecal microbiota of chinstrap (Pygoscelis antarcticus) and gentoo penguins (Pygoscelis papua) on King George Island, Antarctica. The bacterial community compositions during the feeding and moulting stages were compared for both species using bacterial 16S rRNA gene amplicon on an Illumina MiSeq platform. Our results showed that the moult fast altered the bacterial community structures in both penguin species. Interestingly, the bacterial community composition shifted in the same direction in response to the moult fast but formed two distinct clusters that were specific to each penguin species. A significant increase in bacterial diversity was observed in gentoo penguins, whereas no such change was observed for chinstrap penguins. By analysing the contribution of the ecological processes that determine bacterial community assembly, we observed that processes regulating community turnover were considerably different between the feeding and moulting stages for each penguin. At the phylum level, the relative abundances of Fusobacteria, Firmicutes and Proteobacteria were dominant in chinstrap penguins, and no significant changes were detected in these phyla between the feeding and moulting periods. Our results suggest that moult fast-induced changes in the faecal microbiota occur in both species.
Highlights
Fasting behaviour is commonly observed in animals
Shannon’s diversity index, which measures the number of species and takes into account species evenness, indicated that bacterial diversity did not change during the moult in chinstrap penguins (Welch’s two sample t-test, t = -1.61, df = 10.36, p = 0.14; Fig 2) but increased in gentoo penguins (Welch’s two sample t-test, t = -2.89, df = 6.91, p = 0.02; Fig 2)
Variable selection was more pronounced in the feeding stage, whereas drift played an important role in the assembly of the faecal microbiota at moulting stage in both penguin species
Summary
Fasting behaviour is commonly observed in animals. Many mammals hibernate during the harsh winter when there is no available food supply, whilst seabirds have an intensive moult-fast period on land to replace their feathers entirely. For moulting birds, large amounts of energy are required to produce new feathers and to maintain essential physiological functions. The moult fast is a stressful period for individuals due to the energetic demands [1, 2].
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