Comparing western (Megascops kennicottii) and whiskered (M. trichopsis) screech-owl microbiomes in southern Arizona using a novel 16S rRNA sequencing method

Bartlow, Andrew W.; Moser, Sarah Kane; Ellis, Jeremy E.; Hathcock, Charles Dean; Fair, Jeanne Marie

doi:10.1186/s42523-022-00196-7

Comparing western (Megascops kennicottii) and whiskered (M. trichopsis) screech-owl microbiomes in southern Arizona using a novel 16S rRNA sequencing method

Journal Article · Sat Jul 30 00:00:00 EDT 2022 · Animal Microbiome

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1186/s42523-022-00196-7· OSTI ID:1893694

^[1]; ^[1]; Ellis, Jeremy E. ^[2]; Hathcock, Charles Dean ^[1]; ^[1]

Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Fry Laboratories, LLC, Scottsdale, AZ (United States)

Microbiomes are essential to a host’s physiology and health. Despite the overall importance of microbiomes to animal health, they remain understudied in wildlife. Microbiomes function as physical barriers to invading pathogens, and changes in the diversity or composition of microbes within a host may disrupt this barrier. In order to use microbiomes in wildlife ecology, knowledge of the natural variation within and among species is essential. We compare the diversity and composition of two avian species that share the same habitat and niche in our study area, the western screech-owl (Megascops kennicottii) and the whiskered screech-owl (M. trichopsis). We used a targeted 16S sequencing method to improve the taxonomic resolution of microbiomes. We found similar measures of alpha diversity between species and sample types (cloacal samples vs. fecal samples). However, there were significant differences in bacterial species richness among nestlings from different nest boxes, and the composition differed between the two bird species and among nestlings from different nest boxes. Western screech-owls had more variation in alpha diversity and composition and had fewer bacterial species in their core microbiome than whiskered screech-owls. Siblings are likely to yield similar findings for microbiomes; thus, sampling nestlings from different nests may be most informative for monitoring population-level changes.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program

Grant/Contract Number:: 89233218CNA000001

OSTI ID:: 1893694

Report Number(s):: LA-UR-22-29414

Journal Information:: Animal Microbiome, Journal Name: Animal Microbiome Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 4; ISSN 2524-4671

Publisher:: BioMed CentralCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Comparing western (Megascops kennicottii) and whiskered (M. trichopsis) screech-owl microbiomes in southern Arizona using a novel 16S rRNA sequencing method

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