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Assessing the nutritional consequences of switching foraging behavior in wood bison

ABSTRACT: Abstract Diet is one of the most common traits used to organize species of animals into niches. For ruminant herbivores, the breadth and uniqueness of their dietary niche are placed on a spectrum from browsers that consume woody (i.e., browse) and herbaceous (i.e., forbs) plants, to grazers with graminoid‐rich diets. However, seasonal changes in plant availability and quality can lead to switching of their dietary niche, even within species. In this study, we examined whether a population of wood bison (Bison bison athabascae) in northeast Alberta, Canada, seasonally switched their foraging behavior, and if so, whether this was associated with changes in nutrient acquisition. We hypothesized that bison should switch foraging behaviors from grazing in the winter when standing, dead graminoids are the only foliar plants readily available to browsing during spring and summer as nutritious and digestible foliar parts of browse and forbs become available. If bison are switching foraging strategy to maximize protein consumption, then there should be a corresponding shift in the nutritional niche. Alternatively, if bison are eating different plants, but consuming similar amounts of nutrients, then bison are switching their dietary niche to maintain a particular nutrient composition. We found wood bison were grazers in the winter and spring, but switch to a browsing during summer. However, only winter nutrient consumption of consumed plants differed significantly among seasons. Between spring and summer, bison maintained a specific nutritional composition in their diet despite compositional differences in the consumed plants. Our evidence suggests that bison are selecting plants to maintain a target macronutrient composition. We posit that herbivore's can and will switch their dietary niche to maintain a target nutrient composition. We assessed how changes in the types of plants herbivores influences the nutrients the animal acquires. We quantified seasonal changes in the plants consumed by wood bison (Bison bison athabascae) and analyzed the plants consumed for nutritional composition. Our results indicate that wood bison have a diet typical for a gazer in the winter and spring, but switch to browsing in the summer. Despite this switch the plants consumed, bison were able to maintain a consistent nutritional niche.

SUBMITTER: Hecker L

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8601871 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:BackgroundThe intestinal tract harbours a complex and diverse microbial population that is important for health, yet has been poorly described in many species. This study explored the fecal microbiota of semi-free-ranging Wood bison (Bison bison athabascae).ResultsA total of 2081936 16S rRNA (V4) sequences from 40 bison were evaluated. CatchAll analysis of richness predicted a mean of 10685 species per sample (range 5428-24764, SD 4136). Diversity was high, with an average inverse Simpson's index of 31.78 (SD 15.3, range 8.55-86.7). Twenty-one different phyla were identified; however, only Firmicutes and Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria accounted for >1% of sequences. Two distinct population clusters (Group A, n?=?19 and Group B, n?=?21) were evident based on both community membership and population structure. Group A had a significantly lower relative abundance of Actinobacteria (6.4 vs 11.8%, P?=?0.002), Chloroflexi (0.002 vs 0.013%, P?=?0.014), Gemmatimonadetes (0.007 vs 0.15%, P?=?0.038) and Proteobacteria (18.7 vs 42.5%, P?=?<0.0001) and a greater relative abundance of Firmicutes (70.9 vs 39.3%, P?<?0.0001) than Group B. Within Group B, Alphaproteobacteria was the most common class of Proteobacteria (28% of all sequences), while Caulobacteraceae (18.5%), Pseudomonadaceae (3.5%), Hyphomicrobiaceae (3.5%), Alcaligenaceae (3.1%) and Xanthomonadaceae (2.6%) were the most abundant families. The twenty (3.1%) most abundant genera accounted for 71% of sequences. No operational taxon units (OTUs) were found in all samples at a relative abundance of 1% or greater. One OTU (Clostridium cluster XI) was present at 1% or more in all Group A samples, with two other Clostridium cluster XI OTUs in 18/19 (95%) samples. No OTUs were found at that abundance in all Group B sample, but an unclassified Lachnospiraceae was present in 20/21 (95%) and Clostridium cluster XI and Brevundimonas were found in 19 (90%) samples.ConclusionsThe fecal microbiota of Wood bison is rich and diverse. The presence of two distinct populations not associated with housing, age or gender suggest that enterotypes, distinctly different microbial population compositions that can achieve the same ultimate function, might be present in bison, as has been suggested in humans.

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Assessing the nutritional consequences of switching foraging behavior in wood bison

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