A comparative study of the fecal microbiota of grey seal pups and
yearlings - a marine mammal sentinel species
Abstract
Grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) can act as sentinel species reflecting
the condition of the environment they inhabit. Our previous research
identified strains of pathogenic Campylobacter and Salmonella,
originating from both human and agricultural animal hosts, on rectal
swabs from live grey seal (Halichoerus grypus) pups and yearlings on the
Isle of May, Scotland, UK. We examined rectal swabs from the same pup
(n=90) and yearling (n=19) grey seals to gain further understanding into
the effects of age-related changes (pup versus yearling) and three
different natal terrestrial habitats on seal pup fecal microbiota. DNA
was extracted from a subset of rectal swabs (pups n=23, yearlings n=9)
using an optimized procedure, and the V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene was
sequenced to identify each individual’s microbiota. Diversity in pup
samples was lower (3.92 ± 0.19) than yearlings (4.66 ± 0.39) although
not significant at the p=0.05 level (p = 0.062) but differences in the
composition of the microbiota were (p < 0.001). Similarly,
differences between the composition of the microbiota from pups from
three different terrestrial habitats (PH, RR, and TS) were highly
significant (p < 0.001). Pairwise tests showed significant
differences between all three habitats: PH vs TS (p = 0.019), PH vs RR
(p = 0.042) and TS vs RR (p = 0.020). This preliminary study suggests a
general trend, that seal microbiomes are modified by both age and, in
pups, different terrestrial habitats. Furthermore, knowledge of the
microbiota species present has the potential to be used in determining
the environmental quality index.