Microbiomes - the key to a healthier planet?

SCREECH OWL COMMUNITIES To further their understanding of the factors affecting wildlife microbiomes, Bartlow and his team compared the diversity and make-up of the bacterial communities of two owl species: the western screech owl (Megiscops kenicottii) and the whiskered screech owl (Megiscops trichopsis). Because the microbes can be very similar genetically, Bartlow wanted to use a different analysis than that typically used to tell them apart. Limited studies have been carried out on owl microbiomes but in another study on barn owls (Tyto alba) the microbiomes of females were found to be more diverse than those of males, and their larger foraging areas made their microbial communities more varied. Funding Los Alamos National Laboratory's, Laboratory Directed Research and Development program Collaborators Jeanne Fair, Chuck Hathcock, Sarah Kane Moser, and Jeremy Ellis Competing interests Jeremy Ellis is employed by Fry Laboratories, LLC, a commercial clinical laboratory, and BiolD Genomics, Inc, that manufactures the test kits used in this study.