Dataset Information

Age-Related Differences in the Gastrointestinal Microbiota of Chinstrap Penguins (Pygoscelis antarctica).

ABSTRACT: The gastrointestinal tract microbiota is known to play very important roles in the well being of animals. It is a complex community composed by hundreds of microbial species interacting closely among them and with their host, that is, a microbial ecosystem. The development of high throughput sequencing techniques allows studying the diversity of such communities in a realistic way and considerable work has been carried out in mammals and some birds such as chickens. Wild birds have received less attention and in particular, in the case of penguins, only a few individuals of five species have been examined with molecular techniques. We collected cloacal samples from Chinstrap penguins in the Vapour Col rookery in Deception Island, Antarctica, and carried out pyrosequencing of the V1-V3 region of the 16S rDNA in samples from 53 individuals, 27 adults and 26 chicks. This provided the first description of the Chinstrap penguin gastrointestinal tract microbiota and the most extensive in any penguin species. Firmicutes, Bacteoridetes, Proteobacteria, Fusobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Tenericutes were the main components. There were large differences between chicks and adults. The former had more Firmicutes and the latter more Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria. In addition, adults had richer and more diverse bacterial communities than chicks. These differences were also observed between parents and their offspring. On the other hand, nests explained differences in bacterial communities only among chicks. We suggest that environmental factors have a higher importance than genetic factors in the microbiota composition of chicks. The results also showed surprisingly large differences in community composition with other Antarctic penguins including the congeneric Adélie and Gentoo penguins.

SUBMITTER: Barbosa A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4824521 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Age-Related Differences in the Gastrointestinal Microbiota of Chinstrap Penguins (Pygoscelis antarctica).

Barbosa Andrés A Balagué Vanessa V Valera Francisco F Martínez Ana A Benzal Jesús J Motas Miguel M Diaz Julia I JI Mira Alex A Pedrós-Alió Carlos C

PloS one 20160407 4

The gastrointestinal tract microbiota is known to play very important roles in the well being of animals. It is a complex community composed by hundreds of microbial species interacting closely among them and with their host, that is, a microbial ecosystem. The development of high throughput sequencing techniques allows studying the diversity of such communities in a realistic way and considerable work has been carried out in mammals and some birds such as chickens. Wild birds have received less ...[more]

PMID: 27055030

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Project description:BackgroundSexual segregation in vertebrate foraging niche is often associated with sexual size dimorphism (SSD), i.e., ecological sexual dimorphism. Although foraging behavior of male and female seabirds can vary markedly, differences in isotopic (carbon, ?13C and nitrogen, ?15N) foraging niche are generally more pronounced within sexually dimorphic species and during phases when competition for food is greater. We examined ecological sexual dimorphism among sympatric nesting Pygoscelis penguins asking whether environmental variability is associated with differences in male and female pre-breeding foraging niche. We predicted that all Pygoscelis species would forage sex-specifically, and that higher quality winter habitat, i.e., higher or lower sea ice coverage for a given species, would be associated with a more similar foraging niche among the sexes.ResultsP2/P8 primers reliably amplified DNA of all species. On average, male Pygoscelis penguins are structurally larger than female conspecifics. However, chinstrap penguins were more sexually dimorphic in culmen and flipper features than Adélie and gentoo penguins. Adélies and gentoos were more sexually dimorphic in body mass than chinstraps. Only male and female chinstraps and gentoos occupied separate ?15N foraging niches. Strong year effects in ?15N signatures were documented for all three species, however, only for Adélies, did yearly variation in ?15N signatures tightly correlate with winter sea ice conditions. There was no evidence that variation in sex-specific foraging niche interacted with yearly winter habitat quality.ConclusionChinstraps were most sexually size dimorphic followed by gentoos and Adélies. Pre-breeding sex-specific foraging niche was associated with overall SSD indices across species; male chinstrap and gentoo penguins were enriched in ?15N relative to females. Our results highlight previously unknown trophic pathways that link Pygoscelis penguins with variation in Southern Ocean sea ice suggesting that each sex within a species should respond similarly in pre-breeding trophic foraging to changes in future winter habitat.

Dataset Information

Age-Related Differences in the Gastrointestinal Microbiota of Chinstrap Penguins (Pygoscelis antarctica).

Publications

Age-Related Differences in the Gastrointestinal Microbiota of Chinstrap Penguins (Pygoscelis antarctica).

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