Comparing the bacterial communities of wild and captive golden mantella frogs : implications for amphibian conservation

Passos, LF, Garcia, G and Young, RJ ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8407-2348 2018, 'Comparing the bacterial communities of wild and captive golden mantella frogs : implications for amphibian conservation' , PLoS ONE, 13 (10) .

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Abstract

Bacterial communities are frequently found in symbiotic associations with most animal species. The characteristically moist amphibian skin provides a good environment for the growth of some species of bacteria; among these a few can act as a first line defense mechanism against infections. Amphibians in the wild have relatively high exposure to bacteria through environmental transmission and through interactions with different conspecifics, whilst in captivity animals interact with fewer individuals, as well as experiencing a less complex environment through which to obtain their bacterial community. Here we compared the skin microbiota of captive and wild Mantella aurantiaca to investigate whether the captive environment was affecting individuals’ skin associated bacteria. This could have survivorship implications if captive animals had a different skin microbial community in comparison to wild counterparts and they were to be used in a reintroduction program. The microbial community were characterized through 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing methodology. Analyses showed that captive individuals had significantly lower diversity of bacterial species and lower relative abundant microbiota when compared to wild populations; this could result in captive frogs released back to the wild probably has greater susceptibility to infections due to inadequate skin microbiota.
Keywords: microbiota, amphibians, conservation, mantella

Item Type:	Article
Schools:	Schools > School of Environment and Life Sciences > Ecosystems and Environment Research Centre
Journal or Publication Title:	PLoS ONE
Publisher:	Public Library of Science
ISSN:	1932-6203
Related URLs:	Publisher
Funders:	CAPES postgraduate scholarship
Depositing User:	USIR Admin
Date Deposited:	12 Oct 2018 11:37
Last Modified:	12 Sep 2019 14:30
URI:	http://usir.salford.ac.uk/id/eprint/48640

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