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Variations in Gut Microbiota of Siberian Flying Squirrels Correspond to Seasonal Phenological Changes in Their Hokkaido Subarctic Forest Ecosystem

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Abstract

Gut microbial communities of animals are influenced by diet and seasonal weather changes. Since foraging strategies of wild animals are affected by phenological changes, gut microbial communities would differ among seasons. However, interactions of plant-animal-microbiota with seasonal changes have not been well characterized. Here, we surveyed gut microbial diversity of Siberian flying squirrels (Pteromys volans orii) from a natural forest in Hokkaido during spring and summer of 2013 and 2014. Additionally, we compared microbial diversity to temperature changes and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). Changes in both seasonal temperature and phenology were significantly associated with alterations in gut microbiota. There were two clusters of OTUs, below and above 20 °C that were significantly correlated with low and high temperatures, respectively. Low-temperature cluster OTUs belonged to various phyla, whereas the high-temperature cluster was only constituted by Firmicutes. In conclusion, gut microbiota of Siberian flying squirrels varied with environmental changes on an ecological scale.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Hao-Ting Chang for guidance regarding analysis of normalized difference vegetation index, A. Sanyoshi and K. Iguchi of the University of Tokyo Hokkaido Forest for their cooperation in the field, and John Wang for helpful comments for this manuscript.

Funding

This work was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan (MOST 103-2311-B-002-001 and MOST 106-2633-B-006-004).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Genome and Systems Biology Degree Program, National Taiwan University and Academia Sinica, Taiwan, Republic of China

    Po-Yu Liu & Hon-Tsen Yu

  2. Department of Life Science, National Taiwan University, Taiwan, Republic of China

    Po-Yu Liu, An-Chi Cheng, Shiao-Wei Huang, Hao-Wei Chang & Hon-Tsen Yu

  3. Molecular Microbiology and Microbial Pathogenesis Program, Division of Biology and Biomedical Science, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, 63130, USA

    Hao-Wei Chang

  4. Laboratory of Wildlife Biology, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Obihiro, Japan

    Tatsuo Oshida

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Contributions

P-YL, A-CC, and H-TY conceived the study design; PY-L, HW-C, TO, and H-TY collected sample; P-YL, A-CC, and S-WH conducted experiments; P-YL and A-CC conducted bioinformatics analyses; P-YL, A-CC, S-WH, and H-TY wrote the first draft. All authors contributed to data interpretation and preparation of the final manuscript. All authors reviewed and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Hon-Tsen Yu.

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Liu, PY., Cheng, AC., Huang, SW. et al. Variations in Gut Microbiota of Siberian Flying Squirrels Correspond to Seasonal Phenological Changes in Their Hokkaido Subarctic Forest Ecosystem. Microb Ecol 78, 223–231 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-018-1278-x

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