Are microbes and metabolites influencing the parental consumption of nestlings’feces in gray-backed shrikes?
作者机构：School of Life SciencesLanzhou UniversityLanzhou730000China
出 版 物：《Current Zoology》 (动物学报（英文版）)
年 卷 期：2022年第68卷第6期
页 面：667-678页
核心收录：
学科分类：0710[理学-生物学] 070902[理学-地球化学] 0709[理学-地质学] 07[理学]
基 金：This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities[lzujbky-2014-97,lzujbky-2021-sp03].
主 题：feces disposal metabolite microbiota nestlings probiotics
摘 要：The behavioral video recordings of the gray-backed shrike Lanius tephronotus revealed that parent birds eat the feces produced by their nestlings.“Parental nutrition hypothesisattributes the origin of this behavior to nutrition-recovery and cost-saving,respectively.However,the presence of usable nutrients in the nestlings’feces is unknown because of traditional technology.In this study,we analyzed all the metabolites and the variations in the diversity and content of microbes in the feces of gray-backed shrike nestlings.We aimed to report the changes in microbes and metabolites with the age of nestlings and point out that the parent birds that eat the feces may gain potential nutrition benefits.The results showed that the relative abundances of Proteobacteria,Firmicutes,and Bacteroidota,changed significantly when the nestlings were 6 days old.The relative abundances of 6 probiotics,which are involved in digestion,metabolism,and immunity-related physiological functions,decreased in the nestlings’feces gradually with age;therefore,these probiotics may be obtained by parent birds upon ingestion of the feces of young nestlings.Among the metabolites that were detected,20 were lipids and some had a role in anti-parasitic functions and wound healing;however,their relative contents decreased with age.These beneficial substances in the nestlings’feces may stimulate the parents to swallow the feces.Moreover,there were many aromatic metabolites in the newly hatched nestlings’feces,but the content of bitter metabolites increased as they grew up.Therefore,our results are in accordance with the nutritional hypothesis.
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