Vermivora hybrid zone microbiomes
Vertebrates host complex microbiomes that impact their physiology. In many taxa, including colorful wood-warblers, gut microbiome similarity decreases with evolutionary distance. This may suggest that as host populations diverge, so do their microbiomes, either because of tight coevolutionary dynamics, differential environmental influences, or both. Hybridization is common in wood-warblers, but the effects of evolutionary divergence on the microbiome during secondary contact are unclear. Here, we analyze gut microbiomes in two geographically disjunct hybrid zones between Blue-winged Warblers (Vermivora cyanoptera) and Golden-winged Warblers (V. chrysoptera). We performed 16S fecal metabarcoding to identify species-specific bacteria and test the hypothesis that host admixture is associated with gut microbiome disruption.