Effects of spatially heterogeneous warming on gut microbiota, nutrition and gene flow of a heat-sensitive ungulate population

Shiyu Chen; Marcel Holyoak; Hui Liu; Heng Bao; Yingjie Ma; Hongliang Dou; Guangshun Jiang

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.150537

Effects of spatially heterogeneous warming on gut microbiota, nutrition and gene flow of a heat-sensitive ungulate population

Sci Total Environ. 2022 Feb 1;806(Pt 1):150537. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.150537. Epub 2021 Sep 24.

Authors

Shiyu Chen¹, Marcel Holyoak², Hui Liu³, Heng Bao¹, Yingjie Ma⁴, Hongliang Dou⁵, Guangshun Jiang⁶

Affiliations

¹ Feline Research Center of National Forestry and Grassland Administration, College of Wildlife and Protected Area, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China.
² Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
³ Feline Research Center of National Forestry and Grassland Administration, College of Wildlife and Protected Area, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China; College of Forestry, Hainan University, Haikou 570228, China.
⁴ Feline Research Center of National Forestry and Grassland Administration, College of Wildlife and Protected Area, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China; Key Lab of Animal Ecology and Conservation Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1-5 Beichenxi Road, Chaoyang, Beijing 100101, China.
⁵ Feline Research Center of National Forestry and Grassland Administration, College of Wildlife and Protected Area, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Silviculture, Protection and Utilization, Guangdong Academy of Forestry, Guangzhou 510520, China.
⁶ Feline Research Center of National Forestry and Grassland Administration, College of Wildlife and Protected Area, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China. Electronic address: jgshun@126.com.

PMID: 34844317
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.150537

Abstract

Effects of climate warming on trophic cascades are increasingly reported for large herbivores occupying northern latitudes. During the last 40 years, moose (Alces alces) in northeast China have lost nearly half of their historical distribution through their habitat shifting northwards. There are many possible causes of bottom-up and top-down effects of temperature and for moose in northeast China they are poorly understood. Of particular relevance are the effects of extrinsic environmental factors on gene flow, nutritional adaptions, and gut microbiota that occur as moose populations retreat northwards. We combined molecular biology, nutritional ecology and metagenomics to gain deeper mechanistic insights into the effects of temperature on moose populations. In this study, we revealed that the direction and intensity of gene flow is consistent with global warming driving retreats of moose populations. We interpret this as evidence for the northward movement of moose populations, with cooler northern populations receiving more immigrants and warmer southern populations supplying emigrants. Comparison across latitudes showed that warmer late spring temperatures were associated with plant community composition and facilitated related changes in moose protein and carbohydrate intake through altering forage availability, forage quality and diet composition. Furthermore, these nutrient shifts were accompanied by changes in gut microbial composition and functional pathways related to nutrient metabolism. This study provided insights into mechanisms driving effects of spatial heterogeneous warming on genetic, nutritional and physiological adaptions related to key demographic rates and patterns of survival of heat-sensitive ungulates along a latitude gradient. Understanding such changes helps to identify key habitat areas and plant species to ensure accurate assessment of population status and targeted management of moose populations.

Keywords: Alces alces; Diet composition; Gut microbiota; Heterogeneous warming; Nutrient intake.

MeSH terms

Animals
Deer*
Ecosystem
Gastrointestinal Microbiome*
Gene Flow
Hot Temperature