Abstract

Simple SummaryIntestinal microbes play an indispensable role in host physiology and their alteration can produce serious effects on vertebrates. In this study, we analyzed the characteristics of intestinal bacterial community of hooded crane and bean goose whose niches overlap at Shengjin Lake, China, and investigated how host internal factors and inter-species interactions affected the diversity and spread of intestinal bacteria of the two species over three wintering periods. We have found that direct or indirect contact with each other increased the diversity of host intestinal bacteria and caused bacteria to spread among species in the mixed-species flock. In addition, a total of 63 pathogens were identified, of which 38 (60.3%) were found in the gut of both species. These findings could help our understanding of the factors that influence gut bacteria in wild waterbirds, which are also major contributors to the spread of pathogens worldwide.Diversity of gut microbes is influenced by many aspects, including the host internal factors and even direct or indirect contact with other birds, which is particularly important for mixed-species wintering waterbird flocks. In this study, Illumina high-throughput sequencing was used to analyze the intestinal bacteria of the hooded crane and bean goose whose niches overlap at Shengjin Lake. We tested whether contact time enhances the trans-species spread of gut bacteria. Results indicate alpha-diversity and microbial composition displayed significant separation between the two hosts in every wintering period, although the number of bacteria types shared increased with increasing contact time. For the same species, with the lengthening of contact time, alpha-diversity and the number of operational taxonomic units (OTUs) in the host intestine augmented, and the common OTUs and structural similarity of microflora in the middle and late periods were more than in the early and middle periods. In addition, we found a very high proportion of shared pathogens. Our results indicate that, although intestinal microflora of different species were separated, direct or indirect contact in the mixed-species flock caused the spread of gut bacteria trans-species, indicating that more attention should be paid to intestinal pathogens in wild birds.

Highlights

  • Intestinal microbes can co-evolve with the host, playing an indispensable role in host physiology

  • We propose the following hypotheses: (a) bird species differences can lead to significant discrepancies in intestinal bacterial communities; (b) contact leads to horizontal transmission of intestinal microflora between different species; (c) with the lengthening of contact time, the gut bacteria of hooded cranes and bean geese will change and show the same variation pattern during the wintering period

  • One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that the alpha-diversity with three indicators of the hooded cranes gut bacteria was significantly higher than that of bean geese (p < 0.001) (Supplementary Figure S3)

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Summary

Introduction

Intestinal microbes can co-evolve with the host, playing an indispensable role in host physiology. Changes in gut microbes can produce serious effects on vertebrates, for example, increasing susceptibility of the host to diseases [1]. Many internal host factors and external environmental factors may alter the structure of the intestinal microbiota. Many studies have confirmed that the host is a key factor affecting intestinal microorganisms [2,3,4,5]. A study revealed significant differences between the cloacal microorganisms of parasitic nestlings and host nestlings by experimentally creating mixed broods of magpies (Pica pica) and great spotted cuckoos (Clamator glandarius) [6]. Despite differences in the gut microbes of different sexes and ages, greater similarity occurs between gut microbes of the same species than in different species, with intergroup differences always being significantly greater than intra-group differences [7,8]

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