The presence of Pseudogymnoascus destructans, a fungal pathogen of bats, correlates with changes in microbial metacommunity structure

Matthew Grisnik,Donald M Walker,Joshua B Grinath

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-91118-1

Matthew Grisnik, Donald M Walker + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-91118-1

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Abstract

Metacommunity theory provides a framework for how community patterns arise from processes across scales, which is relevant for understanding patterns in host-associated microbial assemblages. Microbial metacommunities may have important roles in host health through interactions with pathogens; however, it is unclear how pathogens affect host microbial metacommunities. Here, we studied relationships between a fungal pathogen and a host-associated microbial metacommunity. We hypothesized that a fungal pathogen of bats, Pseudogymnoascus destructans, correlates with a shift in metacommunity structure and changes in relationships between community composition, and factors shaping these assemblages, such as ecoregion. We sampled bat cutaneous microbial assemblages in the presence/absence of P. destructans and analyzed microbial metacommunity composition and relationships with structuring variables. Absence of P. destructans correlated with a metacommunity characterized by a common core microbial group that was lacking in disease positive bats. Additionally, P. destructans presence correlated with a change in the relationship between community structure and ecoregion. Our results suggest that the fungal pathogen intensifies local processes influencing a microbial metacommunity and highlights the importance of cutaneous microbial assemblages in host–pathogen interactions.

Highlights

Metacommunity theory provides a framework for how community patterns arise from processes across scales, which is relevant for understanding patterns in host-associated microbial assemblages
Our results suggest that the fungal pathogen intensifies local processes influencing a microbial metacommunity and highlights the importance of cutaneous microbial assemblages in host–pathogen interactions
We investigated the relationship between P. destructans and the cutaneous microbial metacommunity of hibernating P. subflavus across 48 sites in Tennessee, USA

Summary

Introduction

Metacommunity theory provides a framework for how community patterns arise from processes across scales, which is relevant for understanding patterns in host-associated microbial assemblages. Metacommunities are defined as groups of habitat patches, linked by species dispersal and interactions between taxa among these p atches[3,4] Both local and regional processes contribute to shaping metacommunity structure and the distribution of species across habitat patches[3]. After determining the EMS, an idealized distributional pattern including hyperdispersed species loss, clumped species loss, evenly spaced, or Clementsian (Fig. 1b-e) can be used to describe metacommunity s tructure[5,6]. Spaced metacommunities (Fig. 1d) are similar to Clementsian, in that they have positive coherence and turnover, but they have hyperdispersed species boundaries as opposed to clumped species loss. Nested community structures result from positive coherence, but negative turnover, where species do not replace each other but rather, are lost from sites. While EMS analyses provide descriptions of metacommunity structure, they do not reveal the variables responsible for such processes

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