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The Gut Microbial Community Structure of the North American River Otter ( Lontra canadensis ) in the Alberta Oil Sands Region in Canada: Relationship with Local Environmental Variables and Metal Body Burden
Author(s) -
Guo Galen,
Eccles Kristin M.,
McMillan Morgan,
Thomas Philippe J.,
Chan Hing Man,
Poulain Alexandre J.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
environmental toxicology and chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.1
H-Index - 171
eISSN - 1552-8618
pISSN - 0730-7268
DOI - 10.1002/etc.4876
Subject(s) - oil sands , trophic level , otter , ecology , apex predator , sentinel species , biology , environmental science , gut flora , ecosystem , food web , geography , asphalt , cartography , immunology
The Alberta Oil Sands Region in Canada is home to one of the largest oil bitumen deposits in the world. The North American river otter ( Lontra canadensis ) is a top predator with a small home range and is sensitive to disturbances; it has been designated as a sentinel species for the potential impacts of the natural resource exploitation on freshwater ecosystems in the Alberta Oil Sands Region. With an increasing interest in noninvasive biomarkers, recent studies suggest that gut microbiota can be used as a potential biomarker of early biological effects on aquatic wildlife. The goal of the present study was to determine the river otter gut microbial structure related to environmental variables characterizing mining activities and metal body burden. We obtained 18 trapped animals from and surrounding the surface mineable area of the Alberta Oil Sands Region. The gut microbial community structure was characterized using high‐throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA gene amplicon analyses. Trace metal concentrations in the liver were measured by inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry. Our study revealed that the gut bacteria of river otters in the Alberta Oil Sands Region clustered in 4 groups dominated by Peptostreptococcaceae, Carnobacteriaceae, Enterobacteriaceae, Clostridiaceae, and Nostocaceae. We show that arsenic, barium, rubidium, liver‐body weight ratio, and δ 15 N were associated with each cluster. When comparing affected versus less affected sites, we show that river otter gut bacterial community and structure are significantly related to trophic level of the river otter but not to Alberta Oil Sands Region mining activities. Our study reveals that the gut bacterial dynamics can provide insights into the diet and habitat use of river otters but that more work is needed to use it as a pollution biomarker. Environ Toxicol Chem 2020;39:2516–2526. © 2020 SETAC