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Gut Bacterial Profiles Differed Among Three Bird Species Near Harbin

Wild Oriental Turtle Dove in natural habitat
Research · Ecology

A study of 27 wild birds from a forest–farmland mosaic near Harbin in northeastern China found species-specific differences in gut bacteria among Oriental turtle doves (Streptopelia orientalis), Eurasian hoopoes (Upupa epops) and grey-backed thrushes (Turdus hortulorum). The birds had perished incidentally in airport bird-exclusion nets and were collected as carcasses; no live birds were captured or handled for the study.

Diet matched some of the bacterial differences

The three species differ in diet: hoopoes are mainly insectivorous, Oriental turtle doves feed largely on seeds and fruits, and grey-backed thrushes are omnivorous. Proteobacteria predominated in turtle doves and thrushes, whereas Firmicutes were more abundant in hoopoes. Microbial richness — the number of bacterial taxa detected — was higher in turtle doves and hoopoes than in thrushes, while the Shannon and Simpson diversity indices, which also account for how evenly bacteria are distributed, showed no clear difference among the species.

Differences in the overall composition of the bacterial communities were more limited than the broad taxonomic patterns alone might suggest. The clearest whole-community difference was between grey-backed thrushes and hoopoes; the comparisons involving Oriental turtle doves showed no clear difference. The study nevertheless identified species-specific microbial biomarkers, including Pseudomonas in hoopoes, Tyzzerella in grey-backed thrushes and Paracoccus in Oriental turtle doves.

Predicted microbial functions also differed

Predicted microbial functions also differed among the species. These were inferred from 16S rRNA profiles rather than measured directly, so they are predictions, not measurements of metabolism. The birds’ gut bacterial communities overlapped more than the food-related DNA sequences used to compare diet. The authors therefore suggest that differences in diet and gut bacteria may be part of how the three species divide food resources. The study does not show that gut microbes themselves cause the birds to coexist.

Sources and image credit

  1. Xu, P., Ren, Z., Yang, T., Meng, L., Cheng, K., & Wu, Y. (2026). Gut microbiota variation and trophic niche differentiation among sympatric birds in a forest-farmland mosaic. Global Ecology and Conservation, 66, e04059. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2026.e04059

Image: PJeganathan / Wikimedia Commons — wild Oriental Turtle Dove photographed at Siroli, Chamoli District, Uttarakhand, India, 18 May 2014; representative image of one of the focal species, not a bird from the Harbin study · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source

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Ecology

SPECIES IN THIS STORY

Species in this story

Oriental Turtle Dove Streptopelia orientalis Explore species Eurasian Hoopoe Upupa epops Explore species

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