Stochastic variation in gut bacterial community affects reproductive rates in the water flea Daphnia magna

Abstract It is well-documented that perturbation of the gut bacterial community can influence the reproductive rates of the host. Less is known about how natural ecological processes can change the bacterial composition in the gut and how such changes influence the reproductive rate of the host. Her...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:FEMS microbiology ecology 2022-10, Vol.98 (10)
Main Authors: Obrestad, Kathrine, Einum, Sigurd, Vadstein, Olav
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Bacteria
Bacteria - genetics
Cladocera - genetics
Composition
Daphnia - genetics
Daphnia - microbiology
Daphnia magna
Ecology
Gastrointestinal Microbiome
Microbiology
Owls
Perturbation
Relative abundance
RNA, Ribosomal, 16S - genetics
rRNA 16S
Stochastic models
Stochastic processes
Stochasticity
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Summary:Abstract It is well-documented that perturbation of the gut bacterial community can influence the reproductive rates of the host. Less is known about how natural ecological processes can change the bacterial composition in the gut and how such changes influence the reproductive rate of the host. Here, we provide novel experimental insights into such processes using the clonally reproducing water flea, Daphnia magna. A total of 20 replicate cultures were reared for 5 weeks (Phase 1) to allow for divergence of bacterial communities through stochastic processes (i.e. drift, founder effects, and/or colonization). Duplicate cultures created from each of these were reared for 21 days (Phase 2) while recording reproductive rates. There was a significant repeatability in reproductive rates between these duplicates, suggesting that divergence of the bacterial communities during Phase 1 translated into reproductive rate effects during Phase 2. This was further supported by significant differences in the relative abundance of gut bacteria (investigated by amplicon sequencing of a part of the 16S rRNA gene) between cultures with high and low reproductive rate in Phase 2. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that stochastic processes can cause natural variation in the bacterial composition in the gut, which in turn affect host reproductive rates. Stochastic processes were shown to impact the composition of the gut bacterial community in Daphnia magna, which altered the organism’s reproductive rate.
ISSN:1574-6941
0168-6496
1574-6941
DOI:10.1093/femsec/fiac105