Dados do Trabalho

Título

Landscape structure influences the eukaryome of a folivorous-frugivorous primate

Corpo do texto

Eukaryotes are important components of primate gut communities. Despite their role in the diversity and structure of the gut ecosystem, microbiome research has focused on the prokaryotic component of the gut community. While gut bacteria are shaped by host phylogeny and diet, these factors are known to have negligible effects on eukaryotic diversity, which is expected to be modulated by the characteristics of the habitat. We assess the influence of landscape composition and configuration on the eukaryome of black and gold howler monkeys ([Alouatta caraya]). We collected fecal samples from 10 independent social groups inhabiting small forest fragments or orchards enriched with native tree species and applied an 18S gene fragment metabarcoding approach to describe their eukaryotic communities. We used generalized linear models to assess the power of landscape metrics (forest cover, urban cover, water cover, open areas, edge density, patch density and mean isolation distance) in predicting the richness, diversity, evenness, and phylogenetic diversity of the eukaryome. We measured all landscape metrics at 9 spatial scales (buffers ranging from 100 to 1700 m, at 200 m intervals) from the center of the focal patch. Most communities were dominated by Ascomycota, Alveolata, Stramenopiles and it is likely that many of the reads had an environmental origin. Forest cover affected eukaryome richness positively and patch density showed a positive relationship with the Simpson’s diversity and Pielou’s evenness indexes. Howler monkeys living in landscapes with lower habitat coverage had a lower eukaryotic alpha-diversity in the fecal microbiome.

Financiadores

National Council for Scientific and Technological Development/CNPq; Brazilian Federal Foundation for Support and Evaluation of Graduate Education/CAPES; Brazilian Fund for Biodiversity (FUNBIO/Instituto Humanize/Eurofins Foundation)

Palavras-chave

Landscape ecology, microbial ecology, eukaryotic community, 18S metabarcoding, habitat amount