Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Alfred Denny Building, Western Bank, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK.
Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Alfred Denny Building, Western Bank, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK.
Sci Total Environ. 2021 Jun 25;775:145144. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.145144. Epub 2021 Feb 6.
Gut microbiota communities are fundamental ecological components in the aquatic food web. Their potential to mediate how organisms respond to multiple environmental stressors remains understudied. Here we explored how manipulations of the gut microbiome of Daphnia pulex, a keystone species in aquatic communities, influenced life history (size at maturity, age at maturity, somatic growth rate and clutch size), morphology (induced defence) and body condition (lipid status deposits) responses to combined anthropogenic (copper) and natural (predation risk) stress. Data from a factorial experiment revealed that the effect of predation risk on traits was often mediated by copper (predation risk and copper interact). These patterns align with theory linking predation risk and copper contamination via digestive physiology. We also found that each stressor, and their combination, was associated with the same community composition of the D. pulex microbiome. However, antibiotic manipulation of the microbiome reversed 7/12 the trait responses across life history, morphology and body condition. This was associated with dramatically different communities to control conditions, with clear and unique patterns of microbiome community composition for each stressor and their combination. Our study revealed that microbiome community composition is highly correlated with the response of organisms to multiple, simultaneous stressors.
肠道微生物群落是水生食物网中的基本生态组成部分。它们在多大程度上能够调节生物对多种环境胁迫的反应，这方面的研究还很不足。在这里，我们探讨了操纵浮游甲壳动物（水生态系统中的关键物种）肠道微生物组会如何影响其生活史（成熟体型、成熟年龄、体生长率和卵囊数量）、形态（诱导防御）和身体状况（脂质状况）对人为（铜）和自然（捕食风险）胁迫的反应。来自一项析因实验的数据表明，捕食风险对特征的影响通常受到铜的调节（捕食风险和铜相互作用）。这些模式与通过消化生理将捕食风险和铜污染联系起来的理论一致。我们还发现，每个胁迫源及其组合都与浮游甲壳动物微生物组的相同群落组成有关。然而，微生物组的抗生素处理逆转了 7/12 个与生活史、形态和身体状况相关的特征反应。这与对照条件下的群落组成有明显不同，每个胁迫源及其组合都有明显且独特的微生物群落组成模式。我们的研究表明，微生物群落组成与生物体对多种同时发生的胁迫的反应高度相关。
