University of Lodz, Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection, Department of Biodiversity Studies and Bioeducation,, Banacha 1/3, 90-237 Łódź, Poland.
Ornithology Unit, Department of Vertebrate Ecology and Zoology, Faculty of Biology, University of Gdańsk, Wita Stwosza 59, 80-308 Gdańsk, Poland.
FEMS Microbiol Ecol. 2024 Apr 10;100(5). doi: 10.1093/femsec/fiae040.
Long-distance host movements play a major regulatory role in shaping microbial communities of their digestive tract. Here, we studied gut microbiota composition during seasonal migration in five shorebird species (Charadrii) that use different migratory (stopover) habitats. Our analyses revealed significant interspecific variation in both composition and diversity of gut microbiome, but the effect of host identity was weak. A strong variation in gut microbiota was observed between coastal and inland (dam reservoir and river valley) stopover habitats within species. Comparisons between host age classes provided support for an increasing alpha diversity of gut microbiota during ontogeny and an age-related remodeling of microbiome composition. There was, however, no correlation between microbiome and diet composition across study species. Finally, we detected high prevalence of avian pathogens, which may cause zoonotic diseases in humans (e.g. Vibrio cholerae) and we identified stopover habitat as one of the major axes of variation in the bacterial pathogen exposure risk in shorebirds. Our study not only sheds new light on ecological processes that shape avian gut microbiota, but also has implications for our better understanding of host-pathogen interface and the role of birds in long-distance transmission of pathogens.
长途宿主迁徙在塑造其消化道微生物群落方面发挥着主要的调节作用。在这里，我们研究了五种涉禽（Charadrii）在季节性迁徙过程中肠道微生物群落的组成，这些涉禽使用不同的迁徙（中途停留）栖息地。我们的分析显示，肠道微生物组的组成和多样性存在显著的种间差异，但宿主身份的影响较弱。在同一物种中，沿海和内陆（水坝水库和河谷）中途停留栖息地之间的肠道微生物群存在强烈的变化。在宿主年龄类群之间进行比较，为肠道微生物组多样性在个体发育过程中的增加以及微生物组组成的与年龄相关的重塑提供了支持。然而，在研究的物种中，微生物组与饮食组成之间没有相关性。最后，我们检测到高比例的禽病原体，这些病原体可能导致人类的人畜共患病（例如霍乱弧菌），我们还确定中途停留栖息地是涉禽中细菌病原体暴露风险的主要变化轴之一。我们的研究不仅为塑造禽肠道微生物组的生态过程提供了新的认识，而且对我们更好地理解宿主-病原体界面以及鸟类在病原体远距离传播中的作用具有重要意义。
