TY - JOUR
T1 - Environmental Stress and the Primate Microbiome
T2 - Glucocorticoids Contribute to Structure Gut Bacterial Communities of Black Howler Monkeys in Anthropogenically Disturbed Forest Fragments
AU - Martínez-Mota, Rodolfo
AU - Righini, Nicoletta
AU - Mallott, Elizabeth K.
AU - Palme, Rupert
AU - Amato, Katherine R.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2022 Martínez-Mota, Righini, Mallott, Palme and Amato.
PY - 2022/7/7
Y1 - 2022/7/7
N2 - Animals living in anthropogenically disturbed habitats are exposed to environmental stressors which can trigger physiological reactions, such as chronic elevations of glucocorticoid hormones. Physiological responses to stressors may induce changes in the gut microbiome, most likely, facilitated by the gut–brain communication. Although these effects have been observed in humans and animal models, elucidating gut bacterial changes in wild animals under natural stressful conditions is still an ongoing task. Here we analyzed the association between physiological stress related to anthropogenic forest disturbance and changes in gut bacterial communities of black howler monkeys (Alouatta pigra) living in forest fragments in Mexico. We measured individuals’ fecal glucocorticoid metabolites (fGCMs) as an index of physiological stress and created inventories of fecal bacterial communities sequencing the 16S rRNA gene to assess gut microbiome change. We evaluated environmental stress by estimating differences in food availability – feeding tree diversity and biomass – in each group’s habitat. We found that both fGCMs and food availability indices were related to gut bacterial community shifts in black howler monkeys. Furthermore, using structural equation modeling, we found that a decrease in food availability, estimated through reductions in feeding tree basal area, increased fGCMs, which in turn induced increases in bacterial richness. Our findings show that the activation of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA)-axis, which is a physiological response sensitive to environmental stressors such as the ecological disturbance of a habitat, contributes to structure the gut microbiome of arboreal primates in disturbed forests.
AB - Animals living in anthropogenically disturbed habitats are exposed to environmental stressors which can trigger physiological reactions, such as chronic elevations of glucocorticoid hormones. Physiological responses to stressors may induce changes in the gut microbiome, most likely, facilitated by the gut–brain communication. Although these effects have been observed in humans and animal models, elucidating gut bacterial changes in wild animals under natural stressful conditions is still an ongoing task. Here we analyzed the association between physiological stress related to anthropogenic forest disturbance and changes in gut bacterial communities of black howler monkeys (Alouatta pigra) living in forest fragments in Mexico. We measured individuals’ fecal glucocorticoid metabolites (fGCMs) as an index of physiological stress and created inventories of fecal bacterial communities sequencing the 16S rRNA gene to assess gut microbiome change. We evaluated environmental stress by estimating differences in food availability – feeding tree diversity and biomass – in each group’s habitat. We found that both fGCMs and food availability indices were related to gut bacterial community shifts in black howler monkeys. Furthermore, using structural equation modeling, we found that a decrease in food availability, estimated through reductions in feeding tree basal area, increased fGCMs, which in turn induced increases in bacterial richness. Our findings show that the activation of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA)-axis, which is a physiological response sensitive to environmental stressors such as the ecological disturbance of a habitat, contributes to structure the gut microbiome of arboreal primates in disturbed forests.
KW - 16S rRNA
KW - Mexico
KW - arboreal primates
KW - glucocorticoids
KW - microbiome
KW - physiological stress
KW - tropical forest disturbance
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85134465567&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3389/fevo.2022.863242
DO - 10.3389/fevo.2022.863242
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85134465567
SN - 2296-701X
VL - 10
JO - Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution
JF - Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution
M1 - 863242
ER -