Microbiota diversity of common lizards (Zootoca vivipara) as a function of climatic treatment, link to supplementary data

Climate change is now considered as the greatest threat to biodiversity and ecological networks, but its impacts on the bacterial communities associated with plant or animals remain largely unknown. Here, we studied the consequences of climate warming on gut bacterial communities of an ectotherm, the common lizard (Zootoca vivipara), using a semi-natural experimental approach. We found that +2/3°C warmer climates cause a 34% loss of populations' microbiota diversity, with possible negative consequences for host survival.

气候变化现已被视为对生物多样性与生态网络的最大威胁，但其对动植物相关细菌群落的影响仍在很大程度上尚未明确。本研究采用半自然实验方法，探究了气候变暖对变温动物（ectotherm）——普通胎生蜥蜴（Zootoca vivipara）肠道细菌群落的影响。研究发现，升温2/3摄氏度会导致种群的微生物群多样性降低34%，这可能对宿主的存活产生不利影响。