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Data from "Communities Within a Community: The Gut Microbiomes of Co-occurring Small Mammals in a Kenyan Savanna"

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Overview

Year:
2021
Contributor:
Brown, Bianca (Author)
Subject:
Kenya
Microbiomes
Mammals
DOI
https://doi.org/10.26300/9rdn-y251

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Abstract:
The gut microbiome is shaped by phylogeny, environment, and diet. Yet how these factors shape the gut microbiome under natural conditions is still unclear. Comparative studies of a wide range animals from distinct environments have been done to identify how these factors contribute to microbiome differences among species. However, these studies have almost exclusively evaluated the influence of these factors on the microbiome in the context of animals kept in captivity or those that live in ecologically distinct environments, potentially confounding the results. This dissertation investigates the evolutionary and ecological patterns of the gut microbiome across animals that co-exist in the same geographical location thus exposed to similar environmental conditions. I leverage a community of small mammals that co-occur in a large mammalian herbivore exclusion experiment known as UHURU located in a Kenyan savanna ecosystem. Replicated exclusion plots are located at three locations across a rainfall gradient, thus allows me to address questions on how species evolutionary relationship, ecological conditions, and functional traits shape the microbiome. In Chapter 1, I investigate the extent of the eco-evolutionary pattern, phylosymbiosis, of the microbiome of animals across 3 orders (7 rodents, 2 hares, 1 elephant shrew) within the UHURU community. In addition to phylosymbiosis, I investigate the role of diet and body size modifying the signal. In Chapter 2, I investigate intra- and inter-population variation of the microbiome of three rodent species, Aethomys hindei, Gerbilliscus robustus, and Saccostomus mearnsi. In Chapter 3, I zoom- in from the population-level to investigate intra- and interindividual variation of the gut metagenomes of these same three rodent species. I use shotgun metagenomics to characterize taxonomy and functional composition of 45 samples from 10 individuals. Across the three Chapters, I identify those evolutionary forces that shape the microbiome are strongest between orders. At the tips of the phylogeny ecological forces are strong predictor of microbiome assembly.

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Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
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In Copyright

Citation

Brown, Bianca, "Data from 'Communities Within a Community: The Gut Microbiomes of Co-occurring Small Mammals in a Kenyan Savanna'" (2021). Brown University Open Data Collection. Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library. https://doi.org/10.26300/9rdn-y251

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    This collection contains open and publicly-funded data sets created by Brown University faculty and student researchers. Increasingly, publishers, and funders are requiring that protocols, data sets, metadata, and code underlying published research be retained and preserved, their locations cited within …
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