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Microbial Diversity of Wild Bird Feathers Revealed throughCulture-Based and Culture-Independent Techniques

  • Microbial Ecology
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Abstract

Despite recent interest in the interactions between birds and environmental microbes, the identities of the bacteria that inhabit the feathers of wild birds remain largely unknown. We used culture-based and culture-independent surveys of the feathers of eastern bluebirds (Sialis sialis) to examine bacterial flora. When used to analyze feathers taken from the same birds, the two survey techniques produced different results. Species of the poorly defined genus Pseudomonas were most common in the molecular survey, whereas species of the genus Bacillus were predominant in the culture-based survey. This difference may have been caused by biases in both the culture and polymerase chain reaction techniques that we used. The pooled results from both techniques indicate that the overall community is diverse and composed largely of members of the Firmicutes and β- and γ- subdivisions of the Proteobacteria. For the most part, bacterial sequences isolated from birds were closely related to sequences of soil-borne and water-borne bacteria in the GenBank database, suggesting that birds may have acquired many of these bacteria from the environment. However, the metabolic properties and optimal growth requirements of several isolates suggest that some of the bacteria may have a specialized association with feathers.

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Acknowledgments

We thank H. L. Mays, Jr., W. A. Smith, and S.-J. Suh for advice on laboratory techniques. N. R. Pace answered questions about phylogenetic analyses. This manuscript benefited from comments by G.E.H.’s lab group. Funding for this work was provided by an Auburn University Cellular and Molecular Biology program grant to K.L.M., an Auburn University graduate school grant-in-aid of research to M.D.S., and National Science Foundation grants DEB007804, IBN0235778, and IBN9722971 toG.E.H.

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Author notes

  1. Colin Dale

    Present address: Department of Biology, University of Utah, 201 Life Sciences, 257 South 1400 East, Salt Lake City, UT, 84112

  2. Kimberly L. Mills

    Present address: National Institutes of Health, 50 South Drive, Rm. 6513 6513, Bethesda, MD, 20892

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, 36849

    Matthew D. Shawkey, Kimberly L. Mills, Colin Dale & Geoffrey E. Hill

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  1. Matthew D. Shawkey
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Correspondence to Matthew D. Shawkey.

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Shawkey, M.D., Mills, K.L., Dale, C. et al. Microbial Diversity of Wild Bird Feathers Revealed throughCulture-Based and Culture-Independent Techniques. Microb Ecol 50, 40–47 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-004-0089-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-004-0089-4

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