Description
Animal-microbe symbioses are ubiquitous and play a central role in animal ecology and evolution. Animals acquire symbiotic microbial partners via vertical and horizontal transmission processes, but the driving mechanisms and their relative importance are currently topic of active discussion. For most animal taxa, our knowledge of variation of symbiotic microbial communities at different levels of biological organisation is limited or lacking. Consequently, our understanding of the assembly processes that govern microbial colonisation of animals is vital to our ability to comprehend animal-microbiota dynamics, and the role that symbionts play in animal ecology and evolution. We studied bacterial microbiota patterns of wild birds, at different levels of biological organisation, in relation to bacterial communities in their immediate surroundings. Our data show that the structure and composition of bacterial communities vary between species, between individuals and between different microbial habitats of the body; differential patterns across levels of biological organization. Moreover,the degree of community resemblance within levels of biological organisation provides indirect insights into the relative importance of ecological community assembly processes in shaping animal microbiota.Our results highlight the potential of metacommunity theory to building a general framework on the ecology and evolution of animal-microbiota.| Periode | 15-feb.-2017 |
|---|---|
| Evenementstitel | Netherlands Annual Ecology Meeting 2017 |
| Evenementstype | Conference |
| Conferentienummer | 10 |
| Organisator | Netherlands Ecological Research Network (NERN) |
| Locatie | Lunteren, NetherlandsToon op kaart |
| Mate van erkenning | International |