Study of bacteria present throughout the Onthophagus taurus life cycle and environment
The goal of this project was to utilize 16S amplicons to identify bacteria present throughout each of the life stages of Onthophagus taurus (mothers, eggs, larvae, and male and female pupae, young adults, and mature adults) as well as environmental features relevant to the beetle throughout development (the dung they eat, the pedestal mothers provide to transfer their microbiota, and the pupal chamber they create to pupate within).