Department
Natural Sciences and Mathematics
Document Type
Article
Source
Environmental Microbiology
Publication Date
7-1-2025
ISSN
1462-2920
Volume
27
Issue
7
First Page
e70131
Abstract
Microbial surveys are becoming an important component of wildlife health research, especially in cases where environmental change and infectious diseases are serious issues. Amongst amphibians, Batrachochytrium spp. have the potential to be fatal pathogens that can impact the population health of numerous species. We assessed the skin bacteriome, prevalence of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) and body conditions of two salamander genera with different life histories: the California slender salamander (Batrachoseps attenuatus) and members of the Pacific newt species complex (Taricha torosa and Taricha granulosa; Taricha sp.). We used 16S rRNA V4 amplicon sequencing to characterise the bacterial communities. Taricha sp. had higher prevalence and loads of Bd compared to B. attenuatus, although the prevalence of Bd was restricted to two of the four regions tested. Both salamander types possessed similar bacterial community richness, and the composition of the skin bacteriome varied mostly by region. However, we did find certain associations between the salamander genera and certain ASVs, with mostly members of the family Burkholderiaceae driving the difference. Our results provide additional evidence for the presence of structure in Bd prevalence and bacteriome composition amongst sympatric amphibians that inhabit different microhabitats.
PubMed ID
40600794
Publisher's Statement
This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Norwood, A., J. Jamora, M. Madison, et al. 2025. “ Skin Bacteriome Structure and Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis Prevalence Differs Amongst Two Sympatric Salamanders in the San Francisco Bay Area.” Environmental Microbiology 27, no. 7: e70131. , which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/1462-2920.70131. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions. This article may not be enhanced, enriched or otherwise transformed into a derivative work, without express permission from Wiley or by statutory rights under applicable legislation. Copyright notices must not be removed, obscured or modified. The article must be linked to Wiley’s version of record on Wiley Online Library and any embedding, framing or otherwise making available the article or pages thereof by third parties from platforms, services and websites other than Wiley Online Library must be prohibited.
Included in
Environmental Microbiology and Microbial Ecology Commons, Organismal Biological Physiology Commons