Longitudinal gut microbiome dynamics in relation to age and senescence in a wild animal population

In humans, gut microbiome (GM) differences are often correlated with, and sometimes causally implicated in, ageing. However, it is unclear how these findings translate in wild animal populations. Studies that investigate how GM dynamics change within individuals, and with declines in physiological condition, are needed to fully understand links between chronological age, senescence, and the GM, but have rarely been done. Here, we use longitudinal data collected from a closed population of Seychelles warblers (Acrocephalus sechellensis) to investigate how bacterial GM alpha diversity, composition, and stability are associated with host senescence. We hypothesised that GM diversity and composition will differ, and become more variable, in older adults, particularly in the terminal year prior to death, as the GM becomes increasingly dysregulated due to senescence. However, GM alpha diversity and composition remained largely invariable with respect to adult age and did not differ in an indi..., , , # Data from: Longitudinal gut microbiome dynamics in relation to age and senescence in a wild animal population

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.44j0zpcp7](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.44j0zpcp7)

This repository contains the data and R scripts needed to reproduce the results in the paper:

Worsley S.F., Davies C.S., Lee C.Z., Mannarelli, ME. et al. Longitudinal gut microbiome dynamics in relation to age and senescence in a wild animal population. Molecular Ecology

All data/scripts should be self-explanatory, but please don't hesitate to email the corresponding author if anything is unclear.

## Description of the data and file structure

The following data files are included:

**1) ASV_table.csv**

This file contains the raw abundances of Amplicon Sequence Variants (ASV) inferred for each faecal sample using QIIMEII. This ASV table is used to generate phyloseq objects. The paired-end sequences for each sample used to generate the table have been deposited with the ENA under the access...