The Impacts of Urbanization on the Bacterial Communities of Mountain Chickadees (Poecile gambeli)

Urbanization is a global process with numerous consequences on wildlife, including the amplification of certain infectious diseases. The degree to which bacterial communities change across urban to rural/native habitat gradients, particularly with respect to trends in potential pathogenic bacteria composition, remains largely unknown. We used 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing to examine how bacterial communities found on mountain chickadee (Poecile gambeli) feathers and nests vary between urban and rural habitats. Our findings show that urban environments result in significant differences in bacteria associated with mountain chickadees, with potential indications towards diverging disease dynamics across urban and rural gradients.