How Diet and Season Shape the faecal microbiome of captive Coquerel Sifakas

In this study we analysed the faecal microbiota of the critically endangered Coquerel sifaka with special focus on seasonal effects and the impact of dietary variations. As a tropical species, European winters may influence the microbiota diversity or composition, highlighting the importance of the assessment.97 faecal samples of all seven individuals housed in European Zoos revealed high microbial diversity and variation. The following families were identified as core taxa, being present in every sample: Lachnospiraceae, Erysipelotrichaceae, Clostridiaceae, Bacillaceae, Rikenellaceae, Porphyromonadaceae, Bacteroidaceae, Oscillospiracae, Eubacteriaceae. We found significant differences in alpha diversity between the time series and also in beta diversity between the time series and analysed seasons.Our results suggest a high microbial diversity for Propithecus coquereli and compositional differences between time series and season. However, the Richness and Shannon index showed no decline in winter indicating no seasonal effect, caused by seasonal dietary changes. These results confirm the importance of longitudinal studies to fill the gaps of knowledge in between the sampling intervals and to perhaps characterize the oscillations in the microbiota over the year. For future research even longer sampling periods, more consistent daily sample acquisition and uniform numbers of sample per season would be needed.