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Feather mites play a role in cleaning host feathers: New insights from DNA metabarcoding and microscopy.

ABSTRACT: Parasites and other symbionts are crucial components of ecosystems, regulating host populations and supporting food webs. However, most symbiont systems, especially those involving commensals and mutualists, are relatively poorly understood. In this study, we have investigated the nature of the symbiotic relationship between birds and their most abundant and diverse ectosymbionts: the vane-dwelling feather mites. For this purpose, we studied the diet of feather mites using two complementary methods. First, we used light microscopy to examine the gut contents of 1,300 individual feather mites representing 100 mite genera (18 families) from 190 bird species belonging to 72 families and 19 orders. Second, we used high-throughput sequencing (HTS) and DNA metabarcoding to determine gut contents from 1,833 individual mites of 18 species inhabiting 18 bird species. Results showed fungi and potentially bacteria as the main food resources for feather mites (apart from potential bird uropygial gland oil). Diatoms and plant matter appeared as rare food resources for feather mites. Importantly, we did not find any evidence of feather mites feeding upon bird resources (e.g., blood, skin) other than potentially uropygial gland oil. In addition, we found a high prevalence of both keratinophilic and pathogenic fungal taxa in the feather mite species examined. Altogether, our results shed light on the long-standing question of the nature of the relationship between birds and their vane-dwelling feather mites, supporting previous evidence for a commensalistic-mutualistic role of feather mites, which are revealed as likely fungivore-microbivore-detritivore symbionts of bird feathers.

SUBMITTER: Dona J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6905397 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Feather mites play a role in cleaning host feathers: New insights from DNA metabarcoding and microscopy.

Doña Jorge J Proctor Heather H Serrano David D Johnson Kevin P KP Oploo Arnika Oddy-van AO Huguet-Tapia Jose C JC Ascunce Marina S MS Jovani Roger R

Molecular ecology 20180503 2

Parasites and other symbionts are crucial components of ecosystems, regulating host populations and supporting food webs. However, most symbiont systems, especially those involving commensals and mutualists, are relatively poorly understood. In this study, we have investigated the nature of the symbiotic relationship between birds and their most abundant and diverse ectosymbionts: the vane-dwelling feather mites. For this purpose, we studied the diet of feather mites using two complementary meth ...[more]

PMID: 29726053

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Project description:According to classic niche theory, species can coexist in heterogeneous environments by reducing interspecific competition via niche partitioning, e.g. trophic or spatial partitioning. However, support for the role of competition on niche partitioning remains controversial. Here, we tested for spatial and trophic partitioning in feather mites, a diverse and abundant group of arthropods. We focused on the two dominant mite species, Microspalax brevipes and Zachvatkinia ovata, inhabiting flight feathers of the Cory's shearwater, Calonectris borealis. We performed mite counts across and within primary and tail feathers on free-living shearwaters breeding on an oceanic island (Gran Canaria, Canary Islands). We then investigated trophic relationships between the two mite species and the host using stable isotope analyses of carbon and nitrogen on mite tissues and potential host food sources. The distribution of the two mite species showed clear spatial segregation among feathers; M. brevipes showed high preference for the central wing primary feathers, whereas Z. ovata was restricted to the two outermost primaries. Morphological differences between M. brevipes and Z. ovata support an adaptive basis for the spatial segregation of the two mite species. However, the two mites overlap in some central primaries and statistical modeling showed that Z. ovata tends to outcompete M. brevipes. Isotopic analyses indicated similar isotopic values for the two mite species and a strong correlation in carbon signatures between mites inhabiting the same individual host suggesting that diet is mainly based on shared host-associated resources. Among the four candidate tissues examined (blood, feather remains, skin remains and preen gland oil), we conclude that the diet is most likely dominated by preen gland oil, while the contribution of exogenous material to mite diets is less marked. Our results indicate that ongoing competition for space and resources plays a central role in structuring feather mite communities. They also illustrate that symbiotic infracommunities are excellent model systems to study trophic ecology, and can improve our understanding of mechanisms of niche differentiation and species coexistence.

Dataset Information

Feather mites play a role in cleaning host feathers: New insights from DNA metabarcoding and microscopy.

Publications

Feather mites play a role in cleaning host feathers: New insights from DNA metabarcoding and microscopy.

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