USF-LVHN SELECT

The Lizard Gut Microbiome Changes with Temperature and Is Associated with Heat Tolerance.

Publication/Presentation Date

8-18-2020

Abstract

Vertebrates harbor trillions of microorganisms in the gut, collectively termed the gut microbiota, which affect a wide range of host functions. Recent experiments in lab-reared vertebrates have shown that changes in environmental temperature can induce shifts in the gut microbiota, and in some cases these shifts have been shown to affect host thermal physiology. However, there is a lack of information about the effects of temperature on the gut microbiota of wild-caught vertebrates. Moreover, in ectotherms, which are particularly vulnerable to changing temperature regimens, the extent to which microbiota composition is shaped by temperature and associated with host thermal tolerance has not been investigated. To address these issues, we monitored the gut microbiota composition of wild-caught western fence lizards (

Volume

86

Issue

17

ISSN

1098-5336

Disciplines

Medical Education | Medicine and Health Sciences

PubMedID

32591376

Department(s)

USF-LVHN SELECT Program, USF-LVHN SELECT Program Students

Document Type

Article

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