2022-09-22 ノースカロライナ州立大学(NCState)
この研究のために、研究者達は、3つの国立公園で、51頭の成熟したヒグマから糞便サンプルを採取した。カトマイ国立公園・保護区、レイク・クラーク国立公園・保護区、ゲイツ・オブ・ザ・アークティック国立公園・保護区の3つの国立公園で、51頭のヒグマの糞便を採取した。
レイク・クラークのクマは、ベリー類やサケ、ヘラジカなどの哺乳類を多く食べる。一方、Gates of the Arcticのクマは、季節の植物や哺乳類を食べる傾向がありますが、魚はあまり食べません。そして、カトマイ沿岸のクマは、さまざまな植物、魚、幅広い海洋生物など、最も多様な栄養のある風景を持っている。
<関連情報>
- https://news.ncsu.edu/2022/09/gut-microbiomes-alaskan-bears/
- https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-19527-4
腸内細菌の構成員とヒグマの健康指標との関連性 Correlating gut microbial membership to brown bear health metrics
Sarah M. Trujillo,Erin A. McKenney,Grant V. Hilderbrand,Lindsey S. Mangipane,Matthew C. Rogers,Kyle Joly,David D. Gustine,Joy A. Erlenbach,Buck A. Mangipane & Diana J. R. Lafferty
Scientific Reports Published:22 September 2022
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-19527-4
Abstract
The internal mechanisms responsible for modulating physiological condition, particularly those performed by the gut microbiome (GMB), remain under-explored in wildlife. However, as latitudinal and seasonal shifts in resource availability occur, the myriad micro-ecosystem services facilitated by the GMB may be especially important to wildlife health and resilience. Here, we use brown bears (Ursus arctos) as an ecological model to quantify the relationship between wildlife body condition metrics that are commonly used to assess individual and population-level health and GMB community composition and structure. To achieve these aims, we subsampled brown bear fecal samples collected during United States National Park Service research activities at three National Parks and Preserves (Katmai, Lake Clark, and Gates of the Arctic) and extracted microbial DNA for 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing and microbial taxonomic classification. We analyzed GMB communities using alpha diversity indices, subsequently using Spearman’s correlation analysis to examine relationships between alpha diversity and brown bear health metrics. We found no differences in GMB composition among bears with differing body conditions, nor any correlations between alpha diversity and body condition. Our results indicate that GMB composition reflects diverse foraging strategies while allowing brown bears to achieve similar body condition outcomes.
