Intestinal bacterial communities form an integral component of the organism. Many factors influence gut bacterial community composition and diversity, including diet, environment and seasonality. During seasonal migration, birds use many habitats and food resources, which may influence their intestinal bacterial community structure. Hooded crane (Grus monacha) is a migrant waterbird that traverses long distances and occupies varied habitats. In this study, we investigated the diversity and differences in intestinal bacterial communities of hooded cranes over the migratory seasons. Fecal samples from hooded cranes were collected at a stopover site in two seasons (spring and fall) in Lindian, China, and at a wintering ground in Shengjin Lake, China. We analyzed bacterial communities from the fecal samples using high throughput sequencing (Illumina Mi-seq). Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, Tenericutes, Cyanobacteria, and Actinobacteria were the dominant phyla across all samples. The intestinal bacterial alpha-diversity of hooded cranes in winter was significantly higher than in fall and spring. The bacterial community composition significantly differed across the three seasons (ANOSIM, P = 0.001), suggesting that seasonal fluctuations may regulate the gut bacterial community composition of migratory birds. This study provides baseline information on the seasonal dynamics of intestinal bacterial community structure in migratory hooded cranes.
Keywords: alpha-diversity; high-throughput sequencing; hooded crane; intestinal bacteria; migration; seasonal fluctuation.