Drivers of change and stability in the gut microbiota of an omnivorous avian migrant exposed to artificial food supplementation

Human activities shape resources available to wild animals, impacting diet and likely altering their microbiota and overall health. We examined drivers shaping microbiota profiles of common cranes (Grus grus) in agricultural habitats by comparing gut microbiota and crane movement patterns (GPS-tracking) over three periods of their migratory cycle, and by analyzing the effect of artificially-supplemented food provided as part of a crane-agriculture management program. We sampled fecal droppings in Russia (non-supplemented, pre-migration) and in Israel in late fall (non-supplemented, post-migration) and winter (supplemented and non-supplemented, wintering). As supplemented food is typically homogenous, we predicted lower microbiota diversity and different composition in birds relying on supplementary feeding. We did not observe changes in microbial diversity with food supplementation, as diversity differed only in samples from non-supplemented wintering sites. However, both food supplemen...人类活动重塑了野生动物可获取的资源禀赋，不仅会影响其摄食习性，还可能改变其肠道微生物群（microbiota）结构与整体健康状态。本研究以农业生境中的普通鹤（Grus grus）为研究对象，通过对比其迁徙周期三个阶段的肠道微生物群与活动轨迹（GPS追踪），并解析作为鹤类-农业管理项目一部分的人工补给食物所产生的调控效应，探究了塑造其微生物群特征的驱动因子。研究样本采集自俄罗斯的非补给迁徙前种群、以色列晚秋的非补给迁徙后种群，以及以色列冬季分补给与非补给两类的越冬种群的鹤类粪便。鉴于人工补给的食物通常成分均一，我们推测依赖补给食物的鹤类，其肠道微生物群多样性会更低，群落组成也会存在显著差异。本研究未发现食物补给对微生物群多样性的显著影响，仅在非补给越冬位点的样本中观察到多样性差异。然而，相关食物补给的……