Manipulating a host-native microbial strain compensates for low microbial diversity by increasing weight gain in a wild bird population

What is it about?

Laboratory studies have shown that gut bacteria can influence the health of their host. However, there is little evidence for this in the wild. We took a bacterial strain from a wild bird's gut and turned it into a powder that we then fed to wild birds and their young in the nest. We measured how this affected the birds gut bacteria and their weight.

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Photo by Doncoombez on Unsplash

Photo by Doncoombez on Unsplash

Why is it important?

We know that gut bacteria can affect the health of laboratory animals, like mice and rats, but there is limited evidence for the effect of gut bacteria on wild animals' health. We manipulated the gut bacteria of wild birds and demonstrate that gut bacteria affects the health of wild animals, providing evidence for the role of gut bacteria in the ecology and evolution of natural populations.