Understanding the interplay between the gut microbiome, behavior and urbanisation in wild birds

了解野生鸟类肠道微生物组、行为和城市化之间的相互作用

• 批准号: 2876993
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of East Anglia
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2027
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2027 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2876993
• 关键词: Understanding; interplay; between; gut; microbiome

SCIENTIFIC BACKGROUNDBehaviour facilitates rapid, flexible responses to environmental change. Despite accumulating evidence that intestinal microbiota communities and their genes (the gut microbiome) have beneficial effects on host behaviour, our understanding of these mechanisms operating in wild animals is sorely lacking. What are the consequences of gut microbiome variation for behavioural responses to anthropogenic activities? And how does urbanisation shape wild animal gut microbiomes?Pinpointing the mechanisms that contribute to urban success in wildlife is an important conservation goal. Individuals with high levels of behavioural flexibility are more likely to thrive in urban environments, but we have yet to understand what drives behavioural variation. If the gut microbiome regulates behaviour, then the environmental impact associated with land use change may be so sudden and extreme that it prevents wildlife from acquiring beneficial gut microbes necessary to behave flexibly and survive in novel habitats.The UK's largest new town developments (Northstowe, New Waterbeach) are in East Anglia, and you will address the urgent and timely hypothesis that rural bird gut microbiomes may limit or facilitate behavioural responses to urbanisation.METHODSYou will combine research with wild great tit (Parus major) populations, and citizen science-based bird monitoring. You will collect faecal samples from birds in the wild, fit birds with radio frequency identification (RFID) tags and measure their behaviour using RFID feeders. You will pioneer a novel and practical monitoring program to collect wildlife faecal samples through citizen science with access to the British Trust for Ornithology's (BTO) exceptional Garden BirdWatch scheme. You will perform 16S rRNA sequencing paired with metabolic functional analyses to unpick microbiome-host behaviour relationships. The following objectives will be prioritised and developed according to your interests: 1) Quantify gut microbiome variation between urban and rural populations.2) Assess whether the gut microbiome predicts behaviours associated with urban success (e.g. behavioural flexibility and boldness).3) Determine the gut microbiome's role in facilitating or limiting individual acclimation to newly developed urban environments.

科学基础行为有助于对环境变化做出快速、灵活的反应。尽管越来越多的证据表明肠道微生物群及其基因（肠道微生物组）对宿主行为具有有益的影响，但我们对野生动物中这些机制的理解非常缺乏。肠道微生物组变异对人类活动的行为反应有什么影响？城市化如何塑造野生动物肠道微生物组？查明有助于城市野生动物成功的机制是一个重要的保护目标。具有高水平行为灵活性的个体更有可能在城市环境中茁壮成长，但我们尚未了解是什么驱动了行为变化。如果肠道微生物组调节行为，那么与土地利用变化相关的环境影响可能是如此突然和极端，以至于它阻止野生动物获得有益的肠道微生物，这些肠道微生物是灵活行为和在新栖息地生存所必需的。（诺斯托、新沃特比奇）位于东安格利亚，你将解决紧迫和及时的假设，农村鸟类肠道微生物组可能会限制或促进城市化的行为反应。方法你将联合收割机研究与野生大山雀（Parus major）种群和基于公民科学的鸟类监测。您将收集野生鸟类的粪便样本，为鸟类安装射频识别（RFID）标签，并使用RFID喂食器测量它们的行为。您将开创一个新颖实用的监测计划，通过公民科学收集野生动物粪便样本，并获得英国鸟类学信托基金（BTO）的特殊花园鸟类观察计划。您将进行16 S rRNA测序与代谢功能分析配对，以解开微生物组-宿主行为关系。将根据您的兴趣优先考虑并制定以下目标：1）量化城市和农村人口之间的肠道微生物组差异2）评估肠道微生物组是否预测与城市成功相关的行为（例如行为灵活性和大胆性）3）确定肠道微生物组在促进或限制个人适应新开发的城市环境中的作用。