The importance of environmental microbes for Drosophila melanogaster during seasonal macronutrient variability.

ABSTRACT: Experiments manipulating the nutritional environment and the associated microbiome of animals have demonstrated their importance for key fitness components. However, there is little information on how macronutrient composition and bacterial communities in natural food sources vary across seasons in nature and on how these factors affect the fitness components of insects. In this study, diet samples from an orchard compost heap, which is a natural habitat for many Drosophila species and other arthropods, were collected over 9 months covering all seasons in a temperate climate. We developed D. melanogaster on diet samples and investigated stress resistance and life-history traits as well as the microbial community of flies and compost. Nutrient and microbial community analysis of the diet sa

SUBMITTER: Davies LR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8458401 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature