Presentation Details
| The Microbiome Influences Ectoparasitic Infection and Host Behavior in Trinidadian Guppies Rachael D.Kramp1, Faith H.Rovenolt1, Devin Henry1, Lindsay Colgan1, Catherine Wynne1, Jason Walsman2, 3, Jessica Stephenson4. 1University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.2Earth Research Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA.3Division of Natural and Applied Sciences, Duke Kunshan University, Kunshan, Jiangsu Province, China.4Stockholm University, Stockholm, Stockholms län, Sweden |
Abstract
Recent research has highlighted the host-associated microbiome as a factor important to both host behavior and infection response. Here I use a uniquely experimentally tractable fish-parasite system (guppy P. reticulata—ectoparasitic flatworm G. turnbulli) to test how microbiome disruption alters host behavior during infection. I reared guppies to adulthood under three treatments: conventional lab conditions, conventional conditions supplemented with a probiotic, or sterilized "microbially-disrupted" water. Following rearing, each fish was infected with G. turnbulli for 15 days, and on the tenth day of infection, I quantified activity and social behavior. Microbially-disrupted fish exhibited reduced sociality compared to fish from conventional and probiotic treatments. While infection severity, growth rate, and male orange coloration also varied between treatments, structural equation modeling revealed that the microbiome's influence on behavior was direct. These results demonstrate that the host-associated microbiome plays a crucial role in shaping host social behavior during infection, with potentially profound implications for parasite transmission and host fitness.
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No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author.
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