Comparison of migratory birds faecal microbiota during the breeding season in Arctic

Abstract

Birds harbour diverse microbes within their guts like other vertebrates. However, the gut microbiota of the individual birds still flexibly changes with other factors, such as breeding status and feeding habits. The gut microbiota of vertebrates play an important role in affecting host health. Migratory birds in arctic have a unique behaviors that enables them to breed successfully during the mating seasons. In this study, we collected faecal samples from three arctic migratory birds (birds (snow bunting, sanderling and, pink footed goose) to characterize the prevalence of gut bacteria by using Illumina Miseq platform. Our finding indicated that three arctic birds were dominated by three bacterial phyla (Proteobacteria, Firmicutes and Bacterioidetes) and that each species has its own species-specific gut microbiota. There were significant differences in the bacterial communities of insectivorous (snow bunting, sanderling) and herbivorous (pink-footed goose) migratory birds. The results from this study suggest that the bacterial composition among those birds possibly altered by its diet during the breeding season in Arctic.