Ear mite infection restructures otic microbial networks in conservation-reliant Santa Catalina Island foxes (Urocyon littoralis catalinae)

We used next-generation sequencing to characterize the ear canal microbiome of Santa Catalina Island foxes (Urocyon littoralis catalinae), an endemic island population that lacks genetic variation. We compared microbial communities of mite-infected and uninfected ear canals across three sampling years (2017, 2018, and 2019). We observed reduced species richness and increased abundance of Staphylococcus pseudintermedius in mite-infected ear canals. We additionally reported wide-scale changes to microbial community networks with mite-infection. This research builds upon our previous work and uses 2017-2018 samples previously uploaded under BioProject PRJNA580023. This BioProject contains 2019 samples.