Interspecific variation in gut microbiome diversity across the Etosha National Park herbivore community

The community of microbes in the gastrointestinal tract of mammals, known as the gut microbiome (GMB), plays a critical role in host ecology and evolution. GMB variation is modulated by both host physiology and environmental conditions experienced by the host. Here we characterized the GMBs of 11 free-ranging large herbivore species inhabiting Etosha National Park, Namibia. We examined how intrinsic (i.e., sex, gut morphology, feeding guild) and extrinsic (i.e., geographic zone, waterhole site) factors influenced GMB diversity and community structure within and across herbivore species. We extracted DNA from herbivore fecal samples (n = 312) and amplified the 16s rRNA gene region to identify bacterial taxa. We defined core bacterial taxa as those present at ≥1% relative abundance in ≥50% of the samples from each species. Within bovid species, the core phylum Verrucomicrobiota and the core genera RF39, Alistipes, Christensenellaceae_R-7 group, and NK4A214 were significantly different in abundance across geographic zones. Microbial richness was significantly greater in female than male eland, and we detected sex-specific differences in Christensenellaceae_R-7 group across all herbivores and P-251-O5 within gemsbok. Mean Bulla evenness was higher in ruminants than nonruminants and differed significantly between giraffes and impala. Elephants also showed a significant correlation between unweighted UniFrac distance and geographic distance between sample locations. By identifying baseline core microbial abundance and occurrence data for this herbivore community, wildlife managers can incorporate long-term GMB monitoring to track microbial shifts in host species over time.