16S rRNA V4 gut microbiome of Leptonycteris yerbabuenae in Mexico

Migratory animals live in a world of constant change. Animals undergo many physiological changes preparing themselves for the migration. Although this field has been extensively studied over the last decades, we know relatively little about the seasonal changes that occur in the microbial communities that these animals carry in their guts. Here we assessed the V4 region of the 16S rRNA high-throughput sequencing data as a proxy to estimate microbiome diversity of Tequila Bats from fecal pellets and evaluate how the natural process of migration shapes the microbiome composition, and diversity. We collected samples from individual bats at two localities in the Dry Forest biome (Chamela and Coquimatlán) and one site at the end point of the migration in the Sonoran Desert (Pinacate). We found that the gut microbiome of the Tequila bats is largely dominated by Firmicutes and Proteobacteria. Our data also provide insights on how microbiome diversity shifts at the same site in consecutive year...