About This Project

Wild animal microbiomes have received minimal research and we often don’t know what constitutes a "healthy" microbiome for these species. Such knowledge is especially important for the conservation of vultures, which rely on their specialized guts to neutralize toxins. My goal is to identify the microbial partners (aka microbiome) of California Condors at the chick and adult stage and identify external factors that influence microbiome composition and diversity across individuals.

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

Animals and their microbial partners shape each other and are both influenced by external forces. Individuals with abnormal microbiomes may be more susceptible to illness or exhibit abnormal behaviors. However, we often don’t know what constitutes a "healthy" microbiome for wildlife because their microbiomes have received minimal research. We will use metagenomic sequencing to characterize the gut microbiome at the chick and adult stage in captive and wild California Condor populations. Additionally, we will identify external factors that influence microbiome composition and diversity across individuals. Our project will thus provide baseline data for future utilization of microbiomes in assessing condor health and potentially new treatments for resilience to toxins.

What is the significance of this project?

Condors, like other vultures, rely on their specialized gastrointestinal tracts to break down carrion containing pathogenic organisms or environmental toxicants. As a result, vultures may be particularly susceptible to gut microbiome perturbation. Chronic exposure to toxicants can alter gut microbial diversity, which may partly explain why vultures have been disproportionately impacted by anthropogenic toxicants relative to other wildlife. Captive-breeding programs have been instrumental in preventing the extinction of multiple vulture species. Since the microbiome is related to host health, understanding how captive environments influence microbiomes is important for post-release survival of endangered species and overall success of captive-breeding programs.

What are the goals of the project?

We will answer two main questions:

1) How does rearing strategy within the captive-breeding environment influence the California Condor chick gut microbiome?

We will track microbiome development of captive-bred parent-reared chicks and captive-bred puppet-reared chicks over a period of 6 months and determine whether any observed differences in microbiome composition are likely to impact function.

2) How is gut microbiome composition and diversity within captive and wild California Condor adults influenced by external factors?

We will calculate microbial diversity metrics following microbiome sequencing and, using detailed individual records, identify external factors that best describe variation in microbiomes between individuals.