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Assembly of the amphibian microbiome is influenced by the effects of land‐use change on environmental reservoirs
Author(s) -
Barnes Elle M.,
Kutos Steve,
Naghshineh Nina,
Mesko Marissa,
You Qing,
Lewis J. D.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
environmental microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.954
H-Index - 188
eISSN - 1462-2920
pISSN - 1462-2912
DOI - 10.1111/1462-2920.15653
Subject(s) - biology , acidobacteria , ecology , chytridiomycota , microbiome , biological dispersal , phylum , amphibian , proteobacteria , microbial population biology , microbial ecology , actinobacteria , ascomycota , bacteria , bioinformatics , biochemistry , population , genetics , demography , 16s ribosomal rna , sociology , gene
Summary A growing focus in microbial ecology is understanding how beneficial microbiome function is created and maintained through various assembly mechanisms. This study explores the role of both the environment and disease in regulating the composition of microbial species in the soil and on amphibian hosts. We compared the microbial communities of Plethodon cinereus salamanders along a land‐use gradient in the New York metropolitan area and paired these with associated soil cores. Additionally, we characterized the diversity of bacterial and fungal symbionts that putatively inhibit the pathogenic fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis . We predicted that variation in skin microbial community composition would correlate with changes seen in the soil which functions as the regional species pool. We found that salamanders and soil share many microbial taxa but that these two communities exhibit differences in the relative abundances of the bacterial phyla Acidobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Proteobacteria and the fungal phyla Ascomycota and genus Basidiobolus . Microbial community composition varies with changes in land‐use associated factors creating site‐specific compositions. By employing a quantitative, null‐based assembly model, we identified that dispersal limitation, variable selection, and drift guide assembly of microbes onto their skin, creating high dissimilarity between individuals with likely consequences in disease preventative function.