Comparative Analysis of Intestinal Microbiota in Wild Avian Species: Influence of Host-Specific and Ecological Factors

The intestinal microbiota significantly influences the host's health. Nonetheless, there are a scarcity of reports concerning the intestinal microbiota of wild avian species. Using high-throughput sequencing technology, we compared the intestinal bacterial communities of the Chukar Partridge (Alectoris chukar), the Naumann's Thrush (Turdus naumanni) and the Pacific Golden Plover (Pluvialis fulva). From the cloacal samples of the three avian species, a total of 7,897,786 reads from 16S rRNA sequencing were acquired. Subsequently, 13,233 ASVs were identified. Belonging to 38 phyla and 951 genera. At the phylum level, Firmicutes was the dominant phylum in all samples, along with notable abundances of Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Actinobacteria, and Spirochaetes. At the genus level, Bifidobacterium, Carnobacterium, and Spirochaeta were identified as the predominant genera in the fecal samples of A. chukar, T. naumanni, and P. fulva, respectively. The results from PCoA and PERMANOVA analyses indicate the significant role of host species in influencing microbial community variations. In addition, the UPGMA analysis showed that the haracterization of gut microbiota from different wild bird clearly separated by the species of host. However, the sample hierarchical clustering tree does not align with the host phylogenetic tree suggests that multiple ecological factors may overwhelm the signal of photosymbiotic.