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Ramos Sarmiento K, Carr A, Diener C, Locey KJ, Gibbons SM. Island biogeography theory provides a plausible explanation for why larger vertebrates and taller humans have more diverse gut microbiomes. THE ISME JOURNAL 2024; 18:wrae114. [PMID: 38904949 PMCID: PMC11253425 DOI: 10.1093/ismejo/wrae114] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/05/2024] [Revised: 05/30/2024] [Accepted: 06/20/2024] [Indexed: 06/22/2024]
Abstract
Prior work has shown a positive scaling relationship between vertebrate body size, human height, and gut microbiome alpha diversity. This observation mirrors commonly observed species area relationships (SARs) in many other ecosystems. Here, we expand these observations to several large datasets, showing that this size-diversity scaling relationship is independent of relevant covariates, like diet, body mass index, age, sex, bowel movement frequency, antibiotic usage, and cardiometabolic health markers. Island biogeography theory (IBT), which predicts that larger islands tend to harbor greater species diversity through neutral demographic processes, provides a simple mechanism for positive SARs. Using a gut-adapted IBT model, we demonstrated that increasing the length of a flow-through ecosystem led to increased species diversity, closely matching our empirical observations. We delve into the possible clinical implications of these SARs in the American Gut cohort. Consistent with prior observations that lower alpha diversity is a risk factor for Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI), we found that individuals who reported a history of CDI were shorter than those who did not and that this relationship was mediated by alpha diversity. We observed that vegetable consumption had a much stronger association with CDI history, which was also partially mediated by alpha diversity. In summary, we find that the positive scaling observed between body size and gut alpha diversity can be plausibly explained by a gut-adapted IBT model, may be related to CDI risk, and vegetable intake appears to independently mitigate this risk, although additional work is needed to validate the potential disease risk implications.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Alex Carr
- Institute for Systems Biology, Seattle, WA 98109, United States
- Molecular Engineering Graduate Program, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, United States
| | - Christian Diener
- Institute for Systems Biology, Seattle, WA 98109, United States
- Diagnostic and Research Institute of Hygiene, Microbiology and Environmental Medicine, Medical University of Graz, 8010 Graz, Austria
| | - Kenneth J Locey
- Center for Quality, Safety & Value Analytics, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL 60612, United States
| | - Sean M Gibbons
- Institute for Systems Biology, Seattle, WA 98109, United States
- Molecular Engineering Graduate Program, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, United States
- Department of Bioengineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, United States
- Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, United States
- Science Institute, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, United States
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Sarmiento KR, Carr A, Diener C, Locey KJ, Gibbons SM. Island biogeography theory and the gut: why taller people tend to harbor more diverse gut microbiomes. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.08.08.552554. [PMID: 37609334 PMCID: PMC10441360 DOI: 10.1101/2023.08.08.552554] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/24/2023]
Abstract
Prior work has shown a positive scaling relationship between vertebrate body size and gut microbiome alpha-diversity. This observation mirrors commonly observed species area relationships (SAR) in many other ecosystems. Here, we show a similar scaling relationship between human height and gut microbiome alpha-diversity across two large, independent cohorts, controlling for a wide range of relevant covariates, such as body mass index, age, sex, and bowel movement frequency. Island Biogeography Theory (IBT), which predicts that larger islands tend to harbor greater species diversity through neutral demographic processes, provides a simple mechanism for these positive SARs. Using an individual-based model of IBT adapted to the gut, we demonstrate that increasing the length of a flow-through ecosystem is associated with increased species diversity. We delve into the possible clinical implications of these SARs in the American Gut Cohort. Consistent with prior observations that lower alpha-diversity is a risk factor for Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI), we found that individuals who reported a history of CDI were shorter than those who did not and that this relationship appeared to be mediated by alpha-diversity. We also observed that vegetable consumption mitigated this risk increase, also by mediation through alpha-diversity. In summary, we find that body size and gut microbiome diversity show a robust positive association, that this macroecological scaling relationship is related to CDI risk, and that greater vegetable intake can mitigate this effect.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Alex Carr
- Institute for Systems Biology, Seattle, WA 98109, USA
- Molecular Engineering Graduate Program, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
| | | | - Kenneth J. Locey
- Center for Quality, Safety & Value Analytics, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL 60612, USA
| | - Sean M. Gibbons
- Institute for Systems Biology, Seattle, WA 98109, USA
- Molecular Engineering Graduate Program, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
- Department of Biological Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
- Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
- eScience Institute, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
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Krásová J, Mikula O, Bryja J, Baptista NL, António T, Aghová T, Šumbera R. Biogeography of Angolan rodents: The first glimpse based on phylogenetic evidence. DIVERS DISTRIB 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/ddi.13435] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Jarmila Krásová
- Department of Zoology Faculty of Science University of South Bohemia České Budějovice Czech Republic
- Institute of Vertebrate Biology of the Czech Academy of Sciences Brno Czech Republic
| | - Ondřej Mikula
- Institute of Vertebrate Biology of the Czech Academy of Sciences Brno Czech Republic
- Institute of Animal Physiology and Genetics of the Czech Academy of Sciences Brno Czech Republic
| | - Josef Bryja
- Institute of Vertebrate Biology of the Czech Academy of Sciences Brno Czech Republic
- Department of Botany and Zoology Faculty of Science Masaryk University Brno Czech Republic
| | - Ninda L. Baptista
- Instituto Superior de Ciências da Educação da Huíla (ISCED‐Huíla) Lubango Angola
- CIBIO‐InBIO Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos GenéticosUniversidade do Porto Vairão Portugal
- Faculdade de Ciências Universidade do Porto Porto Portugal
| | - Telmo António
- Instituto Superior de Ciências da Educação da Huíla (ISCED‐Huíla) Lubango Angola
| | - Tatiana Aghová
- Centre of OncocytogenomicsInstitute of Medical Biochemistry and Laboratory DiagnosticsGeneral University Hospital and First Faculty of MedicineCharles University Prague Czech Republic
| | - Radim Šumbera
- Department of Zoology Faculty of Science University of South Bohemia České Budějovice Czech Republic
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Andermann T, Faurby S, Turvey ST, Antonelli A, Silvestro D. The past and future human impact on mammalian diversity. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2020; 6:6/36/eabb2313. [PMID: 32917612 PMCID: PMC7473673 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abb2313] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2020] [Accepted: 07/16/2020] [Indexed: 05/18/2023]
Abstract
To understand the current biodiversity crisis, it is crucial to determine how humans have affected biodiversity in the past. However, the extent of human involvement in species extinctions from the Late Pleistocene onward remains contentious. Here, we apply Bayesian models to the fossil record to estimate how mammalian extinction rates have changed over the past 126,000 years, inferring specific times of rate increases. We specifically test the hypothesis of human-caused extinctions by using posterior predictive methods. We find that human population size is able to predict past extinctions with 96% accuracy. Predictors based on past climate, in contrast, perform no better than expected by chance, suggesting that climate had a negligible impact on global mammal extinctions. Based on current trends, we predict for the near future a rate escalation of unprecedented magnitude. Our results provide a comprehensive assessment of the human impact on past and predicted future extinctions of mammals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tobias Andermann
- Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Göteborg, Sweden.
- Gothenburg Global Biodiversity Centre, Göteborg, Sweden
| | - Søren Faurby
- Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Göteborg, Sweden
- Gothenburg Global Biodiversity Centre, Göteborg, Sweden
| | - Samuel T Turvey
- Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, London, UK
| | - Alexandre Antonelli
- Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Göteborg, Sweden
- Gothenburg Global Biodiversity Centre, Göteborg, Sweden
- Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, UK
| | - Daniele Silvestro
- Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Göteborg, Sweden
- Gothenburg Global Biodiversity Centre, Göteborg, Sweden
- Department of Biology, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland
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Dubost G. Sexual dimorphism across 3 stages of development in polygynous Artiodactyls is not affected by maternal care. Curr Zool 2016; 62:513-520. [PMID: 29491941 PMCID: PMC5804254 DOI: 10.1093/cz/zow061] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2015] [Accepted: 05/04/2016] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
In polygynous mammals, mature males are usually much heavier than females. Competition for females is intense, and few males reproduce. Given the importance of the male’s body size for the reproduction and social life of these species, levels of sexual dimorphism were studied in 27 species of polygynous terrestrial cetartiodactyls at the 3 most significant stages of development: birth, 6 months of age, and adulthood. Overall, there were 3 different types of changes in male-to-female (M/F) mass ratios between birth and adulthood, corresponding to the 3 categories of adult dimorphism. The change in mass ratio between birth and 6 months of age was inversely correlated to the degree of dimorphism at birth. Most adult dimorphism was acquired after weaning. On the whole, postnatal maternal care seems to have no or even an inverse effect on the evolution of dimorphism, which is apparently not consistent with the assumption of greater maternal investment in male than in female offspring among polygynous mammals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gérard Dubost
- Muséum National D'Histoire Naturelle, EGB-UMR 7204, Ménagerie Du Jardin Des Plantes, 57 Rue Cuvier, 75231 Paris Cédex 05, France
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Jordana X, Marín-Moratalla N, Moncunill-Solé B, Köhler M. Ecological and life-history correlates of enamel growth in ruminants (Artiodactyla). Biol J Linn Soc Lond 2014. [DOI: 10.1111/bij.12264] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/30/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Xavier Jordana
- Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont (ICP); Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona; 08193 Bellaterra Barcelona Spain
| | - Nekane Marín-Moratalla
- Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont (ICP); Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona; 08193 Bellaterra Barcelona Spain
| | - Blanca Moncunill-Solé
- Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont (ICP); Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona; 08193 Bellaterra Barcelona Spain
| | - Meike Köhler
- ICREA at Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont (ICP); Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona; 08193 Bellaterra Barcelona Spain
- Departament d'Ecologia; Facultat de Biologia; Universitat de Barcelona; Diagonal 645 E-08028 Barcelona Spain
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Abstract
As a classical example of a sexually selected trait, the horns of male bovids offer a prime opportunity to identify predictors of the intensity of sexual selection. Here I use the comparative method to quantify sexual and natural selection pressures behind interspecific variation in horn length. I show that male horn length depends on factors proposed to affect the mean mate number per mating male, correlating positively with group size and negatively with male territoriality. This suggests that whereas group size increases the opportunity for sexual selection, territoriality reduces it because territorial males are unable to follow and monopolize female groups as effectively as males in nonterritorial species. Sexual body size dimorphism also correlates positively with group size and negatively with territoriality, corroborating these factors as predictors of the intensity of sexual selection on males. Female horn length was unaffected by the factors related to mating system, suggesting that this trait is mainly under natural selection. Using female horn length as a proxy for forces of natural selection revealed a negative effect on male horn length. Thus where natural selection favors female horns, possibly as effective weapons against predators, a similar selection pressure on males might prevent them from evolving too elaborate horns through sexual selection. There was no correlation found between horn length and latitude, thus providing no support for the hypothesis that horns have a thermoregulatory function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jakob Bro-Jørgensen
- Department of Biological and Environmental Science, University of Jyväskylä, Finland.
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