Synchronized shift of oral, faecal and urinary microbiotas in bats and natural infection dynamics during seasonal reproduction

Dietrich, Muriel; Kearney, Teresa; Seamark, Ernest C. J.; Paweska, Janusz T.; Markotter, Wanda

Reproduction is a period of extreme and temporally physiological and behavioural changes [9] , and has been linked to perturbation of the microbiota. For example, increased abundance of Lactobacillus has been observed in reproductively active females in wild mice [5] . In many animal species, seasonal reproduction is also a source of increased stress, higher contact rates and possible immunological tradeoffs [10] [11] [12] , which may alter host susceptibility and favour pathogen recrudescence and transmission [12, 13] . Therefore, seasonal reproduction has been identified as having a significant impact on the dynamics of various host-parasite interactions, with pulses of infection being recorded, particularly in gregarious animal species [14] . In this context, microbiota perturbation during seasonal reproduction, and in relation to natural infection dynamics, could be of major importance, especially for animals that can play a significant role in human health.