文章基本信息

标题：Sea urchin microbiomes vary with habitat and resource availability
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作者：Paige M. Miller ; Thomas Lamy ; Henry M. Page 等
期刊名称：Limnology and Oceanography Letters
电子版ISSN：2378-2242
出版年度：2021
卷号：6
期号：3
页码：119-126
DOI：10.1002/lol2.10189
语种：English
出版社：Wiley
摘要：Sea urchins are key grazers in coastal seas, where they can survive a variety of conditions and diets, enhancing their ecological impact on kelp forests and other ecosystems. Using 16S rRNA gene sequencing, we characterized bacterial communities associated with guts of the two dominant sea urchin species in southern California, the red urchin Mesocentrotus franciscanus, and the purple urchin Strongylocentrotus purpuratus. Our results show that the two urchin species have distinct gut microbiomes that vary with habitat. The taxonomic composition of their microbiomes suggests that they may facilitate digestion of food and be a source of nutrition themselves. These results highlight the role of microbiomes within macroorganisms as an extended ecological trait, and suggest that microbes may be crucial to resource use and partitioning in co‐occurring species.