Abstract
BackgroundMule deer rely on fat and protein stored prior to the winter season as an energy source during the winter months when other food sources are sparse. Since associated microorganisms (‘microbiota’) play a significant role in nutrient metabolism of their hosts, we predicted that variation in the microbiota might be associated with nutrient storage and overwintering in mule deer populations. To test this hypothesis we performed a 16S rRNA marker gene survey of fecal samples from two deer populations in the western United States before and after onset of winter.ResultsPERMANOVA analysis revealed the deer microbiota varied interactively with geography and season. Further, using metadata collected at the time of sampling, we were able to identify different fecal bacterial taxa that could potentially act as bioindicators of mule deer health outcomes. First, we identified the abundance of Collinsella (family: Coriobacteriaceae) reads as a possible predictor of poor overwintering outcomes for deer herds in multiple locations. Second, we showed that reads assigned to the Bacteroides and Mollicutes Order RF39 were both positively correlated with deer protein levels, leading to the idea that these sequences might be useful in predicting mule deer protein storage.ConclusionsThese analyses confirm that variation in the microbiota is associated with season-dependent health outcomes in mule deer, which may have useful implications for herd management strategies.
Highlights
Mule deer rely on fat and protein stored prior to the winter season as an energy source during the winter months when other food sources are sparse
The microbiota of two Utah mule deer populations varies with geography and season To better understand how location and season contribute to differences in the deer microbiota, we performed a 16S ribosomal ribonucleic acid (rRNA) gene survey of 108 deer samples collected from herds located in Monroe (n = 48) and Cache (n = 60) valley during December and March (Table 1)
To identify factors associated with differences in the overall microbiota composition the microbiota of the different populations was compared using principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) of Unifrac distances in 13,000-read rarefied samples (Fig. 2A-B), which was near-saturating sampling (Figure S1)
Summary
Mule deer rely on fat and protein stored prior to the winter season as an energy source during the winter months when other food sources are sparse. Since associated microorganisms (‘microbiota’) play a significant role in nutrient metabolism of their hosts, we predicted that variation in the microbiota might be associated with nutrient storage and overwintering in mule deer populations. To test this hypothesis we performed a 16S rRNA marker gene survey of fecal samples from two deer populations in the western United States before and after onset of winter. Condition (e.g., ingesta free body fat (IFBF) of female mule deer is linked to life-history characteristics including over-winter survival, birthweight of offspring, and survival of offspring [8,9,10,11]. Understanding the effects of management decisions on health or condition of mule deer are major initiatives of governmental agencies and Eddington et al BMC Veterinary Research (2021) 17:258 non-governmental organizations throughout the range of this species
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