Eulemer rubriventer 16s microbiome project
This study assesses how sex social group identity genetic relatedness dietary diversity and home range proximity are associated with variation in the gut microbiome of red bellied lemurs Eulemer rubriventer residing in Ranomafana National Park Madagascar. Red bellied lemurs are a pair bonded species who mate monogamously. Social groups tend to only include the mated pair and their offspring meaning there are high levels of genetic relatedness within a group. Red bellied lemur social groups are extremely cohesive as they spend substantial time in physical contact feed as a unit and maintain distinct home ranges via territorial scent marking. These genetic social and environmental variables can all impact the acquisition and maintenance of gut microbiome composition and diversity. We found evidence that social group identity genetic relatedness dietary diversity and home range proximity predict variation in the red bellied lemur gut microbiome. However we were unable to estimate the relative contribution of each variable due to the high levels of multicollinearity among our predictor variables. The high levels of multicollinearity in our dataset can likely be attributed to the red bellied lemur s pair living social system. Currently there is a lack of data on the gut microbiome of pair bonded nonhuman primate species and this manuscript fills this knowledge gap by using the red bellied lemur as a model. We suggest there be more comparative studies with other pair living primate species including those with different social structures ecologies and degrees of genetic relatedness to help unpack how social environmental and genetic variables structure the gut microbiome within the context of a pair living social organization.