Association of host and microbial species diversity across spatial scales in desert rodent communities

Relationships between host and microbial diversity have important ecological and applied implications. Theory predicts that these relationships will depend on the spatio-temporal scale of the analysis and the niche breadth of the organisms in question, but representative data on host-microbial commu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2014-10, Vol.9 (10), p.e109677-e109677
Main Authors: Gavish, Yoni, Kedem, Hadar, Messika, Irit, Cohen, Carmit, Toh, Evelyn, Munro, Daniel, Dong, Qunfeng, Fuqua, Clay, Clay, Keith, Hawlena, Hadas
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis
Animals
Bacteria - classification
Bacteria - genetics
Biodiversity
Biogeography
Biological diversity
Biology
Biology and Life Sciences
Blood
Desert environments
Deserts
Dilution
Ecology
Ecology and Environmental Sciences
Endangered & extinct species
Environment
Evolution
Genetics, Population
Gerbillus pyramidum
Health risks
Host-Pathogen Interactions - genetics
Hypotheses
Immunology
Life sciences
Medicine and Health Sciences
Microorganisms
Niche breadth
Parasitology
Phylogenetics
Rodentia - genetics
Rodentia - microbiology
Species diversity
Species richness
Theory
Zoonoses
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Summary:Relationships between host and microbial diversity have important ecological and applied implications. Theory predicts that these relationships will depend on the spatio-temporal scale of the analysis and the niche breadth of the organisms in question, but representative data on host-microbial community assemblage in nature is lacking. We employed a natural gradient of rodent species richness and quantified bacterial communities in rodent blood at several hierarchical spatial scales to test the hypothesis that associations between host and microbial species diversity will be positive in communities dominated by organisms with broad niches sampled at large scales. Following pyrosequencing of rodent blood samples, bacterial communities were found to be comprised primarily of broad niche lineages. These communities exhibited positive correlations between host diversity, microbial diversity and the likelihood for rare pathogens at the regional scale but not at finer scales. These findings demonstrate how microbial diversity is affected by host diversity at different spatial scales and suggest that the relationships between host diversity and overall disease risk are not always negative, as the dilution hypothesis predicts.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0109677