Comparative community ecology reveals conserved ectoparasite microbiomes
amidst variable host and environment microbiomes
Abstract
The microbiome – the community of microorganisms that is associated
with an individual animal – has been an important driver of insect
biodiversity globally, enabling insects to specialize on narrow,
nutrient deficient diets. The importance of maternally inherited,
obligate bacterial endosymbionts to provisioning nutrients missing from
these narrow dietary niches has been well studied in insects. However,
we know comparatively little about the processes that dictate the
composition of non-maternally inherited bacteria in insect microbiomes,
despite the importance of these bacteria in insect health, fitness, and
vector competence. Here, we used two species of obligate insect
ectoparasites of bats, the bat flies (Streblidae) Trichobius
sphaeronotus and Nycterophilia coxata, to examine whether the
microbiome, beyond obligate bacterial endosymbionts, is conserved or
variable across geographic space, between ectoparasite species, or
covaries with the external microbiome of their bat hosts or the cave
environment. Our results indicate that ectoparasite microbiomes are
highly conserved and specific to ectoparasite species, despite these
species feeding on the blood of the same bat individuals in some cases.
In contrast, we found high geographic variation in the fur microbiome of
host bats and that the bat fur microbiome mimics the cave microbiomes.
This research suggests that there is constraint on blood-feeding insect
ectoparasites to maintain a specific microbiome distinct from their host
and the environment, potentially to meet their nutritional needs. Given
many of these bacteria are not known to be maternally inherited, this
research lays the foundation for future examinations of how
blood-feeding arthropods acquire and maintain bacteria in their
microbiomes.