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Climate warming reduces gut microbiota diversity in a vertebrate ectotherm

Nature Ecology & Evolution volume 1, Article number: 0161 (2017) Cite this article

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Abstract

Climate change is now considered to be the greatest threat to biodiversity and ecological networks, but its impacts on the bacterial communities associated with plants and animals remain largely unknown. Here, we studied the consequences of climate warming on the gut bacterial communities of an ectotherm, the common lizard (Zootoca vivipara), using a semi-natural experimental approach. We found that 2–3 °C warmer climates cause a 34% loss of populations’ microbiota diversity, with possible negative consequences for host survival.

Climate change is a major threat to biodiversity and ecosystem functioning1,2. It leads to phenological and range shifts2, and population and species extinctions2,3, and should therefore alter many interspecific interactions. In particular, species with strong, obligate interactions, such as those involving specialist predators, parasites or symbionts should be impacted by changes in their interaction networks4.

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Figure 1: Impact of climate on various outcomes.

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Acknowledgements

We thank A. Cave, B. Rémurier, L. Geidel and A. Fournier for fieldwork assistance, H. Holota for performing genetic extractions, and J. Chave and G. Yvon-Durocher for their helpful comments on the manuscript. We are also grateful to the genotoul bioinformatics platform Toulouse Midi-Pyrenees (Bioinfo Genotoul) for providing computing and storage resources. This work was carried out at the Station d’Ecologie Theorique et Experimentale (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) UMR 5321) and the Laboratoire Evolution et Diversité Biologique (CNRS, Université Paul Sabatier, Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Formation de l’Enseignement Agricole (ENSFEA), UMR 5174), and was supported by the Laboratoires d’Excellence TULIP (ANR-10-LABX-41) and CEBA (ANR-10-LABX-25-01). J.C. was supported by an ANR-12-JSV7-0004-01, and J.W. by an AOI Fonds Scientifique – ENSFEA. This work was supported by an ‘Investissements d'avenir’ programme from the Agence Nationale de la recherche number ANR-11-INBS-0001AnaEE-Services.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CNRS UMR 5321, Station d’Ecologie Théorique et Expérimentale, Moulis, 09200, France

    Elvire Bestion, Staffan Jacob & Murielle Richard

  2. CNRS-Université Paul Sabatier-ENSFEA UMR 5174, Laboratoire Evolution et Diversité Biologique, 118 Route de Narbonne, Bât 4R1, Toulouse Cedex 9, 31062, France

    Elvire Bestion, Staffan Jacob, Lucie Zinger, Lucie Di Gesu, Joël White & Julien Cote

  3. Environmental and Sustainability Institute, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Penryn, TR10 9FE, Cornwall, UK

    Elvire Bestion

  4. Université Catholique de Louvain, Earth and Life Institute, Biodiversity Research Centre, Croix du Sud 4, L7-07-04, Louvain-la-Neuve, 1348, Belgium

    Staffan Jacob

  5. Institut de Biologie de l’École Normale Supérieure, École Normale Supérieure, Paris Sciences et Lettres Research University, CNRS UMR 8197, INSERM U1024, F-75005, Paris, France

    Lucie Zinger

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  1. Elvire Bestion
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  2. Staffan Jacob
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Contributions

E.B., J.W. and J.C. designed the study. E.B. and J.C. performed the experiments. E.B. collected genetic data, L.D.G. and J.W. extracted microbial genetic data, and M.R. extracted and analysed lizard genetic data. S.J., J.W. and L.Z. performed molecular and bioinformatics analyses, and E.B., J.C., L.D.G. and S.J. analysed the data. E.B. wrote the first draft, and J.C., J.W., S.J. and L.Z. contributed significantly to the writing of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Elvire Bestion.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Methods, Supplementary Results, Supplementary References, Supplementary Figures 1–5, Supplementary Tables 1–20. (PDF 1068 kb)

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Bestion, E., Jacob, S., Zinger, L. et al. Climate warming reduces gut microbiota diversity in a vertebrate ectotherm. Nat Ecol Evol 1, 0161 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-017-0161

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