Signatures of landscape and captivity in the gut microbiota of Southern Hairy-nosed Wombats Lasiorhinus latifrons

BackgroundHerbivorous mammals co-opt microbes to derive energy and nutrients from diets that are recalcitrant to host enzymes. Recent research has found that captive management, an important conservation tool for many species, can alter the gut microbiota of mammals. Such changes could negatively impact the ability of herbivorous mammals to derive energy from their native diets, and ultimately reduce host fitness. To date, nothing is known of how captivity influences the gut microbiota of the Southern Hairy-nosed Wombat SHNW, a large herbivorous marsupial that inhabits South Australia. Here, using 16S rRNA gene sequencing, we characterized the faecal microbiota of SHNWs in captivity and from three wild populations, two from degraded habitats and one from an intact native grass habitat.ResultsWe found that captive SHNWs had gut microbiota that were compositionally different and less diverse compared to wild SHNWs. There were major differences in gut microbiota community membership between captive and wild, both in statistically significant changes in relative abundance of microbes, and in the presence/absence of microbes. We also observed differences in microbial composition between the wild populations, with the largest difference associated with native vs. degraded habitat.ConclusionsThese results suggest that captivity has a major impact on the gut microbiota of SHNWs, and that different wild populations harbour distinct microbial compositions. Such findings warrant further work to determine what impacts these changes have on the fitness of SHNWs, and whether they could be manipulated to improve future management of the species.