Abstract
Host-gut microbiota interactions are complex and can have a profound
impact on the ecology and evolution of both counterparts. Several host
traits such as taxonomy, diet and social behavior, and external factors
such as prey availability and local environment are known to influence
the composition and diversity of the gut microbiota. In this study, we
investigated the influence of taxonomy, sex, host size, locality/habitat
on gut microbiota diversity in five lizard species from two different
sites in Portugal. We also analyzed the potential levels of microbial
transmission between species that live in sympatry and syntopy. We
studied Podarcis bocagei and Podarcis lusitanicus from northern Portugal
(Moledo); and two invasive species, Podarcis siculus and Teira dugesii,
and the native Podarcis virescens from Lisbon. We used a metabarcoding
approach to characterize the bacterial communities from the cloaca of
lizards, sequencing the V4 region of the 16S rRNA. Habitat/locality was
found to be the main driver of the differences in composition and
structure of gut bacterial communities of the studied lizards, with host
effects more evident at finer taxonomic scales. Additionally, lizards
from urbanized environments had higher microbiome diversity than lizards
from rural areas. We detected a significant positive correlation between
size and gut bacterial alpha-diversity in the invasive species P.
siculus, which could be due to higher exploratory behaviours. Moreover,
estimates of bacterial transmission indicate that P. siculus may have
acquired a high proportion of local microbiota. These findings indicate
that a diverse array of host and environmental factors can influence
lizards gut microbiota.