Date
2011
Abstract
Diverse microbial communities live in the gut regions of animals. The precise ecological and evolutionary circumstances that govern relationships between hosts and their gut communities is unclear. In this study, we hypothesize that host feeding strategy shapes the microbial communities within the gut systems of insects. We collected five insect species from the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge that exhibited herbivorous, detritovorous and carnivorous diets. Using gut samples from the insects we measured if and how microbial communities are shaped based on any effect host feeding strategy might have. Preliminary analysis of bacterial communities using 16S rDNA sequences has thus far revealed that the sampled community profiles initially appear to show signs of being determined by host feeding type. Analysis has also shown that sequences from the phyla Firmicutes and Proteobacteria appear to contribute most significantly to the differences between communities of different feeding types. We expect that upon further data recovery, the extent of the effect host feeding type has on the communities will be clarified. Additionally we intend to incorporate bacterial community data from previous studies to further broaden our sample set. We expect our results to further define the ecological circumstances that shape the microbial populations within living systems.
Handle
http://hdl.handle.net/1928/29965.1
Other Identifier
SEV226
Knowledge Network for Biocomplexity (KNB) Identifier
knb-lter-sev.226.68188
Document Type
Dataset
Rights
Data Policies: This dataset is released to the public and may be freely downloaded. Please keep the designated Contact person informed of any plans to use the dataset. Consultation or collaboration with the original investigators is strongly encouraged. Publications and data products that make use of the dataset must include proper acknowledgement of the Sevilleta LTER. Datasets must be cited as in the example provided. A copy of any publications using these data must be supplied to the Sevilleta LTER Information Manager. By downloading any data you implicitly acknowledge the LTER Data Policy (http://www.lternet.edu/data/netpolicy.html).
Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.6073/pasta/f7590003f2bc3b948b725843de3bf18e
Temporal coverage
2008-09-13 - 2008-09-20
Spatial coverage
Location: Sampling areas are located on both sides of the dirt road through the cattle pasture as well as inside the Sevilleta NWR just west of the Los Pinos Mountains.Vegetation: Desert grassland., History: Cattle pastures are currently grazed; exclosures added in 1993., siteid: 26
DOI
doi:10.6073/pasta/f7590003f2bc3b948b725843de3bf18e
Permanent URL
http://dx.doi.org/10.6073/pasta/f7590003f2bc3b948b725843de3bf18e
Recommended Citation
Colman, Daniel; Takacs-Vesbach, Cristina; Toolson, Eric (2011): Investigating Host Feeding Strategy as a Determinant of Insect Gut Microbial Community Profile at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico. Long Term Ecological Research Network. http://dx.doi.org/10.6073/pasta/f7590003f2bc3b948b725843de3bf18e
Show full metadata
knb-lter-sev.226.68188-provenance.xml (4 kB)
Show provenance metadata
knb-lter-sev.226.68188-report.html (26 kB)
Show original LTER Network Data Portal ingest report
sev226_gutmicrobialcommunity_20140114.csv (1 kB)
Data in CSV format
Comments
This dataset was originally published on the Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network Data Portal, https://portal.lternet.edu, and potentially via other repositories or portals as described. The Digital Object Identifier (DOI) of the source data package is doi:10.6073/pasta/f7590003f2bc3b948b725843de3bf18e, and may be accessed at http://dx.doi.org/10.6073/pasta/f7590003f2bc3b948b725843de3bf18e. Metadata and files included in this record mirror as closely as possible the source data and documentation, with the provenance metadata and quality report generated by the LTER portal reproduced here as '*-provenance.xml' and *-report.html' files, respectively.