ArticleEcology and evolution2015
Life history correlates of fecal bacterial species richness in a wild population of the blue tit Cyanistes caeruleus.
Article in Ecology and evolution, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers.
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 35 citations in OpenAlex.
- Faecal metagenomes of great tits and blue tits provide insights into host, diet, pathogens and microbial biodiversity.Access microbiology · 2025Article
- Gut microbiota dynamics and their impact on body condition in nestlings of the yellow-rumped flycatchers,Frontiers in microbiology · 2025Article
- A Systematic Review on the Role of Wildlife as Carriers and Spreaders ofAnimals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2023Review
- Linking migration and microbiota at a major stopover site in a long-distance avian migrant.Movement ecology · 2022Article
- Immunogenetic variation shapes the gut microbiome in a natural vertebrate population.Microbiome · 2022Article
- Gut microbiome composition, not alpha diversity, is associated with survival in a natural vertebrate population.Animal microbiome · 2021Article
- Not so black, not so white: differences in microorganism load of contiguous feathers from white stork chicks.Current zoology · 2021Article
- Association of insularity and body condition to cloacal bacteria prevalence in a small shorebird.PloS one · 2020Article
- The Cloacal Microbiome Changes with the Breeding Season in a Wild Bird.Integrative organismal biology (Oxford, England) · 2019Article
- The gut microbiome as a driver of individual variation in cognition and functional behaviour.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2018Review
- Recapture probability, flight morphology, and microorganisms.Current zoology · 2018Article
- Article
- Comprehensive Molecular Characterization of Bacterial Communities in Feces of Pet Birds Using 16S Marker Sequencing.Microbial ecology · 2017Article
- Variation between the oral and faecal microbiota in a free-living passerine bird, the great tit (Parus major).PloS one · 2017Article
- Temporal Stability and the Effect of Transgenerational Transfer on Fecal Microbiota Structure in a Long Distance Migratory Bird.Frontiers in microbiology · 2017Article
- Pathogenic bacteria and timing of laying.Ecology and evolution · 2015Article
- The Hoopoe's Uropygial Gland Hosts a Bacterial Community Influenced by the Living Conditions of the Bird.PloS one · 2015Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Very little is known about the normal gastrointestinal flora of wild birds, or how it might affect or reflect the host's life-history traits. The aim of this study was to survey the species richness of bacteria in the feces of a wild population of blue tits Cyanistes caeruleus and to explore the relationships between bacterial species richness and various life-history traits, such as age, sex, and reproductive success. Using PCR-TGGE, 55 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were identified in blue tit feces. DNA sequencing revealed that the 16S rRNA gene was amplified from a diverse range of bacteria, including those that shared closest homology with Bacillus licheniformis, Campylobacter lari, Pseudomonas spp., and Salmonella spp. For adults, there was a significant negative relationship between bacterial species richness and the likelihood of being detected alive the following breeding season; bacterial richness was consistent across years but declined through the breeding season; and breeding pairs had significantly more similar bacterial richness than expected by chance alone. Reduced adult survival was correlated with the presence of an OTU most closely resembling C. lari; enhanced adult survival was associated with an OTU most similar to Arthrobacter spp. For nestlings, there was no significant change in bacterial species richness between the first and second week after hatching, and nestlings sharing the same nest had significantly more similar bacterial richness. Collectively, these results provide compelling evidence that bacterial species richness was associated with several aspects of the life history of their hosts.
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