The behavioural ecology of host species is likely to affect their microbial communities, because host sex, diet, physiology, and movement behaviour could all potentially influence their microbiota. We studied a wild population of barn owls (Tyto alba) and collected data on their microbiota, movement, diet, size, coloration, and reproduction. The composition of bacterial species differed by the sex of the host and female owls had more diverse bacterial communities than their male counterparts. The abundance of two families of bacteria, Actinomycetaceae and Lactobacillaceae, also varied between the sexes, potentially as a result of sex differences in hormones and immunological function, as has previously been found with Lactobacillaceae in the microbiota of mice. Male and female owls did not differ in the prey they brought to the nest, which suggests that dietary differences are unlikely to underlie the differences in their microbiota. The movement behaviour of the owls was associated with the host microbiota in both males and females because owls that moved further from their nest each day had more diverse bacterial communities than owls that stayed closer to their nests. This novel result suggests that the movement ecology of hosts can impact their microbiota, potentially on the basis of their differential encounters with new bacterial species as the hosts move and forage across the landscape. Overall, we found that many aspects of the microbial community are correlated with the behavioural ecology of the host and that data on the microbiota can aid in generating new hypotheses about host behaviour.

中文翻译：

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运动的生态学和性与谷仓猫头鹰的微生物群落组成有关。

寄主物种的行为生态学可能会影响其微生物群落，因为寄主的性别，饮食，生理和运动行为都可能会影响其微生物群。我们研究了野生的仓n（Tyto alba）种群，并收集了有关它们的微生物群，运动，饮食，大小，着色和繁殖的数据。细菌种类的组成因宿主的性别而异，雌性猫头鹰比雄性猫头鹰具有更多的细菌群落。两性细菌的数量，放线菌科和乳杆菌科也存在性别差异，这可能是由于荷尔蒙和免疫功能的性别差异所致，就像以前在小鼠微生物群中发现的乳杆菌科一样。雌雄猫头鹰带入巢中的猎物没有不同，这表明饮食差异不可能是其微生物群差异的基础。猫头鹰的运动行为与雄性和雌性中的宿主微生物群有关，因为每天离开巢越远的猫头鹰比靠近鸟巢的猫头鹰具有更多的细菌群落。这一新颖的结果表明，寄主的移动生态可能会影响其微生物群，这可能是由于寄主在整个景观中移动和觅食时与新细菌物种的差异性遭遇。总的来说，我们发现微生物群落的许多方面都与宿主的行为生态相关，并且微生物群上的数据可以帮助产生关于宿主行为的新假设。