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Captivity-Induced Changes in the Skin Microbial Communities of Hellbenders (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis)

  • Host Microbe Interactions
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Abstract

Variation in environmental conditions can result in disparate associations between hosts and microbial symbionts. As such, it is imperative to evaluate how environmental variables (e.g., habitat quality) can influence host-associated microbiome composition. Within wildlife conservation programs, captive conditions can negatively influence the establishment and maintenance of “wild-type” microbiotas within a host. Alternative microbial communities can result in the proliferation of disease among captive stock or upon reintroduction. Hellbenders (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis) are a threatened salamander for which extensive captive management is currently employed. Using metabarcoding, we characterized the skin microbiota of wild and captive hellbenders from two subspecies in the state of Missouri, the eastern (C. a. alleganiensis) and the Ozark hellbender (C. a. bishopi). Both subspecies in our study included wild adults and captive juveniles that were collected from the wild as eggs. Our objectives were to investigate differences in the skin microbial communities’ richness/diversity, composition, and functional profiles of microbes between wild and captive individuals. Captive eastern hellbenders possessed richer communities than wild cohorts, whereas the opposite pattern was observed within the Ozark subspecies. We found significant microbial community structure between wild and captive populations of both subspecies. Microbiota structure translated into differences in the predicted metagenome of wild and captive individuals as well. As such, we can expect captive hellbenders to experience alternative microbial structure and function upon reintroduction into the wild. Our study provides a baseline for the effect of captivity on the skin microbial communities of hellbenders, and highlights the need to incorporate microbiota management in current captive-rearing programs.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the members of the Williams lab for assistance in revising this document. Special thanks especially to Erin Kenison for detailed comments and suggestions. Thanks to Phillip San Miguel and Viktoria Krasnyanskaya from the Purdue Genomics Core for assistance in sequencing library preparation. We also thank the Missouri Department of Conservation and the St. Louis Zoo Ron Goellner Center for Hellbender Conservation for providing access to sampling and for their interest in this project.

Funding

Funding for this study was provided by Purdue University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California-Berkeley, 147 Hilgard Hall, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA

    Obed Hernández-Gómez

  2. Missouri Department of Conservation, 2901 W. Truman Blvd, Jefferson City, MO, 65109, USA

    Jeffrey T. Briggler

  3. Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, Purdue University, 715 W. State St, West Lafayette, IN, 47907, USA

    Rod N. Williams

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  1. Obed Hernández-Gómez
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Correspondence to Obed Hernández-Gómez.

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We handled hellbenders following an approved protocol by the Purdue University Animal Care and Use Committee (PACUC protocol no. 14060011094).

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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All applicable international, national, and/or institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed.

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Hernández-Gómez, O., Briggler, J.T. & Williams, R.N. Captivity-Induced Changes in the Skin Microbial Communities of Hellbenders (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis). Microb Ecol 77, 782–793 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-018-1258-1

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