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Botsidou, P. ; Schloter, M. ; Maraci, Ö.* ; Gschwendtner, S. ; Nagel, R.* ; Forcada, J.* ; Hoffman, J.I.*

Skin, but not gut, microbial communities vary with social density in Antarctic fur seals.

Front. Microbiol. 16:1603500 (2025)
Publ. Version/Full Text Research data DOI PMC
Open Access Gold
Creative Commons Lizenzvertrag
Comparative studies of microbial communities occupying different body sites in wild vertebrates are scarce, but they are crucial for advancing our understanding of the ecological and evolutionary factors shaping animal microbiomes. We therefore used a natural experiment comprising mother-offspring pairs from two adjacent Antarctic fur seal breeding colonies that differ in social density to investigate differences between skin and gut microbial communities in relation to host-specific and environmental factors. Using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing, we uncovered a strong influence of colony on the diversity and composition of skin but not gut microbial communities. Specifically, we observed a suppressive effect of high social density on skin microbial alpha diversity as well as an overabundance of phyla associated with diseases and bite wounds in the high-density colony. Our findings suggest that skin microbial communities may be more sensitive to external factors, whereas gut communities are more tightly regulated by the host. Overall, this study highlights the importance of considering multiple body sites and their distinct microbial communities to develop a more comprehensive understanding of the factors shaping microbial diversity and composition in marine mammals.
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Publication type Article: Journal article
Document type Scientific Article
Corresponding Author
Keywords Antarctic Fur Seal (arctocephalus Gazella) ; Gut Microbiome ; Pinniped ; Skin Microbiome ; Social Density
ISSN (print) / ISBN 1664-302X
e-ISSN 1664-302X
Journal Frontiers in Microbiology
Quellenangaben Volume: 16, Issue: , Pages: , Article Number: 1603500 Supplement: ,
Publisher Frontiers
Non-patent literature Publications
Reviewing status Peer reviewed
Institute(s) Research Unit Comparative Microbiome Analysis (COMI)