Dept. of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, 80309, USA.
United States Geological Survey, Fort Collins Science Center, 2150 Centre Ave. Bldg C, Fort Collins, CO, 80526, USA.
Microb Ecol. 2023 Nov;86(4):2271-2281. doi: 10.1007/s00248-023-02229-3. Epub 2023 May 24.
Many studies have noted differences in microbes associated with animals reared in captivity compared to their wild counterparts, but few studies have examined how microbes change when animals are reintroduced to the wild after captive rearing. As captive assurance populations and reintroduction programs increase, a better understanding of how microbial symbionts respond during animal translocations is critical. We examined changes in microbes associated with boreal toads (Anaxyrus boreas), a threatened amphibian, after reintroduction to the wild following captive rearing. Previous studies demonstrate that developmental life stage is an important factor in amphibian microbiomes. We collected 16S marker-gene sequencing datasets to investigate: (i) comparisons of the skin, mouth, and fecal bacteria of boreal toads across four developmental life stages in captivity and the wild, (ii) tadpole skin bacteria before and after reintroduction to the wild, and (iii) adult skin bacteria during reintroduction to the wild. We demonstrated that differences occur across skin, fecal, and mouth bacterial communities in captive versus wild boreal toads, and that the degree of difference depends on developmental stage. Skin bacterial communities from captive tadpoles were more similar to their wild counterparts than captive post-metamorphic individuals were to their wild counterparts. When captive-reared tadpoles were introduced to a wild site, their skin bacteria changed rapidly to resemble wild tadpoles. Similarly, the skin bacterial communities of reintroduced adult boreal toads also shifted to resemble those of wild toads. Our results indicate that a clear microbial signature of captivity in amphibians does not persist after release into natural habitat.
许多研究都注意到了在圈养动物与野生动物相比，其相关微生物存在差异，但很少有研究探讨过当动物在圈养后被重新引入野外时，微生物是如何变化的。随着圈养保证种群和再引进计划的增加，更好地了解微生物共生体在动物转移过程中的反应至关重要。我们研究了在圈养后重新引入野外的北方牛蛙（Anaxyrus boreas），一种受威胁的两栖动物，其相关微生物的变化。先前的研究表明，发育阶段是两栖动物微生物组的一个重要因素。我们收集了 16S 标记基因测序数据集，以调查：（i）在圈养和野外的四个发育阶段比较北方牛蛙的皮肤、口腔和粪便细菌，（ii）在重新引入野外之前和之后的蝌蚪皮肤细菌，以及（iii）在重新引入野外期间的成年皮肤细菌。我们表明，在圈养和野外的北方牛蛙的皮肤、粪便和口腔细菌群落中存在差异，而且差异的程度取决于发育阶段。来自圈养蝌蚪的皮肤细菌群落与其野生对应物更相似，而圈养后变态个体与其野生对应物则不相似。当圈养的蝌蚪被引入野外时，它们的皮肤细菌迅速变化，变得与野生蝌蚪相似。同样，重新引入的成年北方牛蛙的皮肤细菌群落也向野生牛蛙的特征转变。我们的结果表明，在两栖动物中，圈养的明显微生物特征在释放到自然栖息地后不会持续存在。
