Scientists are beginning to decode endangered creatures’ microbial ecosystems
New Zealand’s critically endangered kākāpō, the world’s heaviest parrot, is flightless and nocturnal, with fragrant moss-green feathers, an odd, whiskery face, up to a 90-year life span—and a gut microbiome made almost entirely of the bacterium Escherichia coli.
“It’s very unusual. If you’d seen it in a human, you’d be worried,” West says. It’s not yet clear if it’s bad for kākāpō, but a microbiome so homogeneous can be cause for concern because it may not carry out all the functions a species needs. “If you’ve lost diversity, you’ve potentially lost some functionality of the microbiome,” West adds. The researchers also found that when they fed kākāpō chicks supplemental baby-parrot feed, a different bacterium took over their microbiome instead.
Biologists are still cataloging which microbes live on and inside most endangered species, and how those communities change over time, says Flinders University marine biologist Elizabeth Dinsdale, who dives with sharks to collect samples of their skin microbes. Roughly 90 percent of the microorganisms she has found are new to science, and her team has identified different populations of whale sharks by their typical skin microbiomes.
France Dernières Nouvelles, France Actualités
Similar News:Vous pouvez également lire des articles d'actualité similaires à celui-ci que nous avons collectés auprès d'autres sources d'information.
Pictures of the year: Animals | Pictures | ReutersAn Indian rhino is pictured during the second heatwave of the year at the Zoo Aquarium in Madrid, Spain, July 13, 2022. REUTERS/Susana Vera
Lire la suite »
Empathetic People Seem to Have A Special Ability When It Comes to AnimalsCan you tell just from a whine, grunt, bleat, or a moo whether a hoofed animal is happy or in distress? If you can, it might be a sign that you are particularly empathetic – or you spend a lot of time around animals.
Lire la suite »
Scientists revealed a laser pen which writes by burning the airScientists from Hongtuo Joint Laboratory, Whuan, China, has demonstrated a laser pen which can burn the air to create words and symbols.
Lire la suite »
This fossilized butthole gives us a rare window into dinosaur sexThe first dinosaur cloaca ever to be reconstructed is already telling us a lot about how ancient avian relatives reproduced and mated.
Lire la suite »
Why scientists laid “murder” to restProblematic names for insects are changing.
Lire la suite »
‘Missing link’: Scientists may have just found the source of all complex life formsOne of the big mysteries in the field of biology is how the complex organisms that roam on Earth first arose. Now new research may have stumbled upon the answer.
Lire la suite »