Nature Communications (May 2018)

Gut microbiomes of wild great apes fluctuate seasonally in response to diet

  • Allison L. Hicks,
  • Kerry Jo Lee,
  • Mara Couto-Rodriguez,
  • Juber Patel,
  • Rohini Sinha,
  • Cheng Guo,
  • Sarah H. Olson,
  • Anton Seimon,
  • Tracie A. Seimon,
  • Alain U. Ondzie,
  • William B. Karesh,
  • Patricia Reed,
  • Kenneth N. Cameron,
  • W. Ian Lipkin,
  • Brent L. Williams

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-04204-w
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9, no. 1
pp. 1 – 18

Abstract

Read online

Microbiota composition fluctuates in response to changes in environmental and lifestyle factors. Here, Hicks et al. show that the faecal microbiota of wild gorillas and chimpanzees is temporally dynamic, with shifts that correlate with seasonal rainfall patterns and periods of high and low frugivory.