Data from: Ex situ diet influences the bacterial community associated with the skin of red-eyed tree frogs (Agalychnis callidryas)

Amphibians support symbiotic bacterial communities on their skin that protect against a range of infectious pathogens, including the amphibian chytrid fungus. The conditions under which amphibians are maintained in captivity (e.g. diet, substrate, enrichment) in ex situ conservation programmes may affect the composition of the bacterial community. In addition, ex situ amphibian populations may support different bacterial communities in comparison to in situ populations of the same species. This could have implications for the suitability of populations intended for reintroduction, as well as the success of probiotic bacterial inoculations intended to provide amphibians with a bacterial community that resists invasion by the chytrid fungus. We aimed to investigate the effect of a carotenoid-enriched diet on the culturable bacterial community associated with captive red-eyed tree frogs (Agalychnis callidryas) and make comparisons to bacteria isolated from a wild population from the Chiquibul Rainforest in Belize. We successfully showed carotenoid availability influences the overall community composition, species richness and abundance of the bacterial community associated with the skin of captive frogs, with A. callidryas fed a carotenoid-enriched diet supporting a greater species richness and abundance of bacteria than those fed a carotenoid-free diet. Our results suggest that availability of carotenoids in the diet of captive frogs is likely to be beneficial for the bacterial community associated with the skin. We also found wild A. callidryas hosted more than double the number of different bacterial species than captive frogs with very little commonality between species. This suggests frogs in captivity may support a reduced and diverged bacterial community in comparison to wild populations of the same species, which could have particular relevance for ex situ conservation projects.两栖动物的皮肤表面定殖有共生细菌群落，这类群落可抵御多种传染性病原体，其中包括两栖壶菌（Amphibian Chytrid Fungus）。在迁地保护（ex situ conservation）项目中，人工圈养两栖动物的各项条件（如日粮、底材、丰容措施）可能会影响其皮肤细菌群落的组成。此外，同一物种的迁地保护种群与就地（in situ）野生种群所携带的细菌群落结构可能存在差异。这一差异可能会影响用于野化放归的种群的适配性，同时也会影响益生菌接种方案的成效——这类接种旨在为两栖动物提供可抵御壶菌入侵的皮肤细菌群落。 本研究旨在探究类胡萝卜素（carotenoid）富集日粮对圈养红眼树蛙（Agalychnis callidryas）可培养皮肤细菌群落的影响，并将其与从伯利兹奇基布尔雨林（Chiquibul Rainforest）的野生种群中分离得到的细菌群落进行对比。本研究证实，类胡萝卜素的可获得性会影响圈养蛙类皮肤细菌群落的整体组成、物种丰富度与丰度；喂食类胡萝卜素富集日粮的红眼树蛙，其皮肤细菌的物种丰富度与丰度均高于喂食无类胡萝卜素日粮的个体。 研究结果表明，圈养蛙类日粮中的类胡萝卜素可对其皮肤共生细菌群落产生有益影响。本研究同时发现，野生红眼树蛙所携带的细菌物种数是圈养个体的两倍以上，且两者的细菌物种重叠度极低。这表明，相较于同一物种的野生种群，圈养蛙类的皮肤细菌群落可能出现丰富度下降与结构分化的情况，这一发现对迁地保护项目具有重要的现实指导意义。