ArticleAnimal microbiome2021
Gut microbiome composition, not alpha diversity, is associated with survival in a natural vertebrate population.
Article in Animal microbiome, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 41 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
41 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 99 citations in OpenAlex.
- Gut microbial signatures and immunotherapy outcomes in NSCLC and melanoma: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC cancer · 2026Pooled it
- Age-related changes in the gut microbiota of a long-lived seabird suggest divergence from mammalian models.Royal Society open science · 2026Article
- Ectoparasitism and the gut microbiota: a cross-fostering experiment in a wild passerine.FEMS microbiology ecology · 2026Article
- Gut Microbiota Resilience and Environmental Stressors: A Hidden Key to Lifespan Optimization?Probiotics and antimicrobial proteins · 2026Review
- Characterization of gut microbiota in wild Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) from five forests across Thailand.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- The island biology of the host microbiome.Trends in microbiology · 2026Review
- Gut Microbiome Communities Vary Across Translocated Populations of the Seychelles Warbler.Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- Social Structure and Interactions Differentially Shape Aerotolerant and Anaerobic Gut Microbiomes in a Cooperative Breeding Species.Molecular ecology · 2026Article
- Host immunogenetic variation and gut microbiome functionality in a wild vertebrate population.Microbiome · 2026Article
- Association between castration-induced changes in circadian body temperature rhythms and gut microbiome diversity in goats.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- TMAO Supplementation to High-Carbohydrate Diet Reprogrammed Hepatic Metabolism and Intestinal Microbiota to Improve Liver Health and Disease Resistance ofMicroorganisms · 2026Article
- Relationship of the Landscape Configuration with the Gut Parasites and Fungi Diversity in Farm Animals Associated with Conservation Areas in Colombia: Epidemiological Risk to Wildlife.Acta parasitologica · 2025Article
- Gut microbiome variation in juvenile blue tits in a European urban mosaic.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Integration of localized microbiome, metabolome, and clinical datasets predicts healing in chronic wounds among veterans.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Behavioural types correlate with the gut microbiome in juvenile wild and reared gilthead seabream.Royal Society open science · 2025Article
- Pharmacological insights into gut microbiota modulation in systemic lupus erythematosus: Mechanisms, treatment strategies, and clinical implications.The Journal of pharmacology and experimental therapeutics · 2025Review
- Arctic Greening Drives Changes in the Diet and Gut Microbiome of a Large Herbivore With Consequences for Body Mass.Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- Comparative gut microbiome research through the lens of ecology: theoretical considerations and best practices.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2025Review
- Metabolic pathways associated with Firmicutes prevalence in the gut of multiple livestock animals and humans.Animal microbiome · 2025Article
- Why Didn't the Sifaka Cross the Road? Divergence of Propithecus edwardsi Gut Microbiomes Across Geographic Barriers in Ranomafana National Park, Madagascar.American journal of primatology · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 5 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThe vertebrate gut microbiome (GM) can vary substantially across individuals within the same natural population. Although there is evidence linking the GM to health in captive animals, very little is known about the consequences of GM variation for host fitness in the wild. Here, we explore the relationship between faecal microbiome diversity, body condition, and survival using data from the long-term study of a discrete natural population of the Seychelles warbler (Acrocephalus sechellensis) on Cousin Island. To our knowledge, this is the first time that GM differences associated with survival have been fully characterised for a natural vertebrate species, across multiple age groups and breeding seasons.
resultsWe identified substantial variation in GM community structure among sampled individuals, which was partially explained by breeding season (5% of the variance), and host age class (up to 1% of the variance). We also identified significant differences in GM community membership between adult birds that survived, versus those that had died by the following breeding season. Individuals that died carried increased abundances of taxa that are known to be opportunistic pathogens, including several ASVs in the genus Mycobacterium. However, there was no association between GM alpha diversity (the diversity of bacterial taxa within a sample) and survival to the next breeding season, or with individual body condition. Additionally, we found no association between GM community membership and individual body condition.
conclusionsThese results demonstrate that components of the vertebrate GM can be associated with host fitness in the wild. However, further research is needed to establish whether changes in bacterial abundance contribute to, or are only correlated with, differential survival; this will add to our understanding of the importance of the GM in the evolution of host species living in natural populations.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.