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Red Kites and Vultures Keep Distinct Bacterial Communities Despite Sharing Carrion

Research: Ecology, Disease, parasites & microbiology

Red Kites and vultures may feed on carrion, exposing them to many of the same microbes, yet their bacterial communities do not converge. In Spain, researchers compared bacteria from four body sites—the face, mouth, trachea and cloaca—in 155 birds representing four obligate vulture species and the facultative scavenger Red Kite (Milvus milvus). Obligate scavengers depend on carrion, while facultative scavengers can also use other food sources.

Host species explained 18.1% of the variation in bacterial-community composition, compared with 8.9% for anatomical site. The two factors also interacted: differences among species depended on which body site was sampled. Each site had a distinct bacterial community. The cloaca contained more anaerobic, gut-associated bacteria; anaerobic bacteria thrive where oxygen is scarce. The face and trachea had more bacteria associated with the environment and respiratory tract.

The Red Kite showed the same broad separation among body sites as the vultures, but its bacterial signatures differed from those of the other species. Age also influenced community composition, while sex had little detectable effect.

The results show that encountering the same microbes is not the same as those microbes persisting in the body. Host species and the conditions in different body sites are associated with which bacteria are found there, and age contributes to the pattern. The study describes bacterial communities; it does not establish what those bacteria do or the mechanisms that determine which persist.

Sources and image credit

  1. Host and anatomical filters prevent microbiome convergence in avian scavengersPrimary study. Verification used the accessible abstract and an official University of Granada summary; the full paper was not accessible.

Image: A black kite (Milvus migrans) photographed in close-up against a dark background. Photo: Tim Sträter / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0. Representative photograph. · CC BY 2.0 · Source

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Red Kite Milvus milvus Explore species

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