PRJNA714685
Evaluating the effects of translocation and host characteristics on skin associated microbiomes of sun-basking fish
The factors shaping the composition and dynamics of microbiomes associated to aquatic organisms, especially regarding skin microbiomes have been understudied despite the unquestionable ecological role of microbiome. Variation in skin associated microbiomes has been attributed to host species, geographic location, habitat, and diet, but the roles of intraspecific variation in other phenotypic traits among host individuals remains elusive. We investigated whether and how host environment and phenotypic traits were associated with species richness and community composition in the skin microbiome of carp (Cyprinus carpio). We translocated carp individuals from homogeneous laboratory environment to a natural heterogeneous environment (a pond) and monitored their behaviours through biologgers. We hypothesized that microbial composition should differ among host individuals, both according to bodily position and phenotypic dimensions, after the hosts freely dwelled in the pond for several weeks. Specifically, we explored: (i) whether and how translocation of hosts affected species richness, diversity, and community composition of microbiomes; (ii) whether microbiome community compositions varied among individual hosts; (iii) whether community composition of contrasting body sites (dorsal versus ventral) differed; and (iv) whether the variation in microbiomes among host individuals was associated with host phenotypic traits including sex, colour morph, sun-basking, activity (vertical and thermal habitat switch), personality, body temperature, and growth