The Effect of Nest Architecture on Nest Microclimate and Microbiome Assembly in Tropical Birds
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Date
2020-12-08
Authors
Campos Cerda, Felipe
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Oregon
Abstract
Animals interact with complex microbial communities (i.e., their microbiomes) throughout their lifetimes. Microbiomes can have important effects on their host’s fitness and survival, but it is unclear how newborn hosts are initially colonized. This dissertation focuses on initial microbiome assembly and consists of three main parts: i) the description of a new perspective on the study of microbiome assembly (the nidobiome approach), which considers nests (and especially nest architecture) to be central to initial microbiome assembly; ii) a comparative study of the ability of tropical bird nests of various architectures to regulate temperature and humidity under natural environmental conditions, and iii) a study of nest architecture as a driver of initial microbiome assembly in the chicks of several species of tropical birds.
In the first part of this dissertation, I propose an integrative framework to study initial microbiome assembly, considering parents, nest and nestlings as an interacting unit: the nidobiome. In the nidobiome, nests have a central role at funneling parental inputs, by direct transmission and by indirect environmental modification. I propose the nidobiome framework as a way to better understand initial microbiome assembly.
In the second part of this dissertation, I provide evidence of important differences between the microclimate of temperate and tropical nests. Tropical nests do not appear to be insulative in nature, relying instead on evaporative cooling for avoiding the maximum environmental temperatures. To my knowledge, this is the first time that a nest has been suggested to utilize evaporative cooling to regulate internal conditions. This observation suggests a novel way for nests to alter their resident microbiome and alter initial microbiome assembly in tropical birds.
In the third part of my dissertation, I report that nest architecture affects the microbiome of the nest walls and the gut microbiome of nestlings from a number of different tropical bird species. To my knowledge, this is the first evidence that microbiome composition can respond to nest architecture. Overall, my results show that differences in nest architecture can impact both the abiotic conditions and the microbiome inside the nest.
This dissertation includes both previously published/unpublished and co-authored material.
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Keywords
Bird microbiome, Microbiome assembly, Nest microclimate, Nesting ecology, Tropical birds