Title |
Intraspecific Variation in the Skin-Associated Microbiome of a Terrestrial Salamander
|
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Published in |
Microbial Ecology, May 2017
|
DOI | 10.1007/s00248-017-0986-y |
Pubmed ID | |
Authors |
Sofia R. Prado-Irwin, Alicia K. Bird, Andrew G. Zink, Vance T. Vredenburg |
Abstract |
Resident microbial communities living on amphibian skin can have significant effects on host health, yet the basic ecology of the host-microbiome relationship of many amphibian taxa is poorly understood. We characterized intraspecific variation in the skin microbiome of the salamander Ensatina eschscholtzii xanthoptica, a subspecies composed of four genetically distinct populations distributed throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and the Sierra Nevada mountains in California, USA. We found that salamanders from four geographically and genetically isolated populations harbor similar skin microbial communities, which are dominated by a common core set of bacterial taxa. Additionally, within a population, the skin microbiome does not appear to differ significantly between salamanders of different ages or sexes. In all cases, the salamander skin microbiomes were significantly different from those of the surrounding terrestrial environment. These results suggest that the relationship between E. e. xanthoptica salamanders and their resident skin microbiomes is conserved, possibly indicating a stable mutualism between the host and microbiome. |
X Demographics
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
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United States | 20 | 44% |
United Kingdom | 3 | 7% |
Poland | 1 | 2% |
Spain | 1 | 2% |
Netherlands | 1 | 2% |
Unknown | 19 | 42% |
Demographic breakdown
Type | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Members of the public | 23 | 51% |
Scientists | 18 | 40% |
Practitioners (doctors, other healthcare professionals) | 3 | 7% |
Science communicators (journalists, bloggers, editors) | 1 | 2% |
Mendeley readers
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Unknown | 75 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Student > Ph. D. Student | 13 | 17% |
Student > Bachelor | 11 | 15% |
Student > Master | 10 | 13% |
Student > Doctoral Student | 8 | 11% |
Researcher | 8 | 11% |
Other | 10 | 13% |
Unknown | 15 | 20% |
Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 35 | 47% |
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 10 | 13% |
Environmental Science | 6 | 8% |
Immunology and Microbiology | 3 | 4% |
Economics, Econometrics and Finance | 1 | 1% |
Other | 2 | 3% |
Unknown | 18 | 24% |