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.两栖动物体表栖息着共生细菌群落，这些群落可抵御多种传染性病原体，包括两栖壶菌（amphibian chytrid fungus）。迁地保护（ex situ conservation）项目中，圈养两栖动物的饲养条件（如日粮、底材、丰容措施）可能会影响其体表细菌群落的组成。此外，同一物种的迁地种群所携带的细菌群落，与原位（in situ）种群相比往往存在差异。这一现象可能会影响用于野化放归的种群的适宜性，同时也会影响细菌性益生菌接种（probiotic bacterial inoculations）的效果——这类接种旨在为两栖动物提供可抵御壶菌入侵的细菌群落。本研究旨在探究富含类胡萝卜素（carotenoid）的日粮对圈养红眼树蛙（Agalychnis callidryas）体表可培养细菌群落的影响，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。本研究成功证实，类胡萝卜素的可获得性会影响圈养蛙类体表细菌群落的整体组成、物种丰富度与丰度；喂食富含类胡萝卜素日粮的红眼树蛙，其体表细菌的物种丰富度与丰度均显著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获得性，大概率对其体表细菌群落有益。此外，本研究还发现，野生红眼树蛙所携带的不同细菌物种数量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，与同一物种的野生种群相比，圈养蛙类的细菌群落多样性更低且组成更趋异，这一发现对迁地保护项目具有特殊的参考价值。