Abstract
Oreohelix strigosa (Rocky Mountainsnail) is a land snail found in the
talus slopes of the Rocky Mountains. The University of Colorado’s Museum
of Natural History has densely sampled Oreohelix for the past century;
many are preserved in ethanol and available for molecular research.
While microbiome compositions in other systems are not affected by
short-term field season preservation, the effects of decades-long
preservation have yet to be assessed. We used 16S rRNA gene amplicon
sequencing to examine Oreohelix strigosa gut microbiomes from museum
specimens across a 98-year range, as well as within short term
preservation treatments collected in 2018. Treatment groups included
samples extracted fresh, without preservation; samples starved prior to
extraction; and samples preserved for 1 month, 6 months, and 9 months.
General microbiome composition was similar across all years. Sample
groups belonging to specific years, or specific short-term treatments,
showed unique associations with select bacterial taxa. Collection year
was not a significant predictor of microbial richness, though
unpreserved short-term treatments showed significantly higher richness
than preserved treatments. While year was a significant factor in
microbiome composition, it did not explain much of the variation across
samples. Other factors like location collected and drought index were
also significant drivers of community composition and explained as much
or more of the variability. This study is the first to examine animal
host associated microbiome change across a period of nearly one century.
Consistent patterns across this temporal range indicate that historic
specimens can answer many ecological questions surrounding the host
associated microbiome.