scholarly journals The Gut Microbiota of the Egyptian Mongoose as an Early Warning Indicator of Ecosystem Health in Portugal

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (9) ◽  
pp. 3104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mónica V. Cunha ◽  
Teresa Albuquerque ◽  
Patrícia Themudo ◽  
Carlos Fonseca ◽  
Victor Bandeira ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Health ◽  
Environmental Gradients ◽  
Land Use Changes ◽  
Scaling Analysis ◽  
Mammal Species ◽  
Phenotypic Resistance ◽  
Native Communities ◽  
Reference Information ◽  
Egyptian Mongoose ◽  
Herpestes Ichneumon

The Egyptian mongoose is a carnivore mammal species that in the last decades experienced a tremendous expansion in Iberia, particularly in Portugal, mainly due to its remarkable ecological plasticity in response to land-use changes. However, this species may have a disruptive role on native communities in areas where it has recently arrived due to predation and the potential introduction of novel pathogens. We report reference information on the cultivable gut microbial landscape of widely distributed Egyptian mongoose populations (Herpestes ichneumon, n = 53) and related antimicrobial tolerance across environmental gradients. The panel of isolated species is consistent with the typical protein-based diet of a carnivore: Firmicutes predominate (89% of individuals), while Clostridiales, Enterobacteriales, and Lactobacillales are the major classes. Forty-one individuals (77.4%) harbour Clostridium spp. A spatial influence on mongooses’ microbiota is confirmed by nonmetric multidimensional scaling analysis, with a significant contribution of municipality to their microbiota composition. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing of mongoose commensal bacteria to 28 compounds evidences xenobiotic tolerance of Escherichia coli (E. coli), enterococci, Salmonella Spartel and Mbandaka serotypes and Pseudomonas bacteria, among others. The common isolation of antimicrobial tolerant microbiota from the mongoose’s gut suggests this species is exposed to anthropogenic influence and is affected by forestry and agricultural-related practices, reflecting its easy adaptation to ecological gradients across agroecosystems. We thus propose regular microbial and phenotypic resistance profiling of widely distributed mongooses as a sentinel tool for xenobiotics’ lifecycle and ecosystem health in Portugal.

scholarly journals Crosstalk Between Culturomics and Microbial Profiling of Egyptian Mongoose (Herpestes ichneumon) Gut Microbiome

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (6) ◽  
pp. 808 ◽  
Author(s):  
André C. Pereira ◽  
Victor Bandeira ◽  
Carlos Fonseca ◽  
Mónica V. Cunha
Keyword(s):  
Microbial Community ◽  
Gut Microbiota ◽  
Microbial Community Composition ◽  
Shannon Index ◽  
Data Series ◽  
Independent Sequence ◽  
Microbial Profiling ◽  
Culture Independent ◽  
Egyptian Mongoose ◽  
Herpestes Ichneumon

Recently, we unveiled taxonomical and functional differences in Egyptian mongoose (Herpestes ichneumon) gut microbiota across sex and age classes by microbial profiling. In this study, we generate, through culturomics, extended baseline information on the culturable bacterial and fungal microbiome of the species using the same specimens as models. Firstly, this strategy enabled us to explore cultivable microbial community differences across sexes and to ascertain the influence exerted by biological and environmental contexts of each host in its microbiota signature. Secondly, it permitted us to compare the culturomics and microbial profiling approaches and their ability to provide information on mongoose gut microbiota. In agreement with microbial profiling, culturomics showed that the core gut cultivable microbiota of the mongoose is dominated by Firmicutes and, as previously found, is able to distinguish sex- and age class-specific genera. Additional information could be obtained by culturomics, with six new genera unveiled. Richness indices and the Shannon index were concordant between culture-dependent and culture-independent approaches, highlighting significantly higher values when using microbial profiling. However, the Simpson index underlined higher values for the culturomics-generated data. These contrasting results were due to a differential influence of dominant and rare taxa on those indices. Beta diversity analyses of culturable microbiota showed similarities between adults and juveniles, but not in the data series originated from microbial profiling. Additionally, whereas the microbial profiling indicated that there were several bioenvironmental features related to the bacterial gut microbiota of the Egyptian mongoose, a clear association between microbiota and bioenvironmental features could not be established through culturomics. The discrepancies found between the data generated by the two methodologies and the underlying inferences, both in terms of β-diversity and role of bioenvironmental features, confirm that culture-independent, sequence-based methods have a higher ability to assess, at a fine scale, the influence of abiotic and biotic factors on the microbial community composition of mongoose’ gut. However, when used in a complementary perspective, this knowledge can be expanded by culturomics.

scholarly journals Medium- and large-sized mammal composition in the Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park and adjacent areas, state of Goiás, Brazil

2019 ◽  
Vol 59 ◽  
pp. e20195942 ◽  
Author(s):  
Átilla Colombo Ferreguetti ◽  
Isadora Cristina Motta Lessa ◽  
Emerson Monteiro Vieira ◽  
André Almeida Cunha ◽  
Helena Godoy Bergallo
Keyword(s):  
Species Composition ◽  
National Park ◽  
Mammalian Species ◽  
Scaling Analysis ◽  
Large Mammals ◽  
Conservation Units ◽  
Mammal Species ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Dry And Rainy Seasons

The Cerrado is the second largest Brazilian biome and only 2.8% is represented by protected areas. Considering the relevance of the Cerrado and Conservation Units in preserving the mammalian diversity, we provided the first assessment of the diversity of medium- and large-sized mammal species in the Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park (CVNP) and surroundings. We tested the effectiveness of the CVNP by assessing the difference in species composition within the park and its surroundings. We sampled CVNP in the rainy (October-December 2013) and dry seasons (March-June 2014) in order to characterize the seasonality within the community. We selected 36 sampling sites to evaluate the composition of the medium and large mammals in the CVNP and its surroundings, 18 in the CVNP and 18 in the park surroundings. We ordered mammalian composition and frequency of individuals data by using a Non-metric Multidimensional Scaling analysis (NMDS). We assessed the effect of season (dry and rainy seasons) and locality (within the CVNP and surroundings) on mammalian species richness with a two-way analysis of variance (Two-way ANOVA). We recorded 23 species, 13 within the CVNP and 17 species in its surroundings. Composition and frequency of records differed between dry and rainy seasons, with higher richness in the rainy season. Species’ composition and the frequency of records were also different between within the CVNP and its surroundings, with higher richness in the surroundings. These results provide information for the increase of the knowledge of mammalian ecology but also is useful as a tool for future strategies to the conservation of these species. More attention should be given to the monitoring of these species in the long term because this area still harbor some viable populations.

scholarly journals Following The Trail: Factors Underlying the Sudden Expansion of the Egyptian Mongoose (Herpestes ichneumon) in Portugal

PLoS ONE ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. e0133768 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tânia Barros ◽  
João Carvalho ◽  
Maria João Ramos Pereira ◽  
Joaquim P. Ferreira ◽  
Carlos Fonseca
Keyword(s):  
Sudden Expansion ◽  
Egyptian Mongoose ◽  
Herpestes Ichneumon

scholarly journals Expanding the geographical distribution of the Egyptian Mongoose, Herpestes ichneumon (Linnaeus, 1758), in South Africa

Check List ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 595-599
Author(s):  
Lourens H. Swanepoel ◽  
Daan Loock ◽  
Wayne S. Matthews ◽  
Kevin W. Emslie
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Geographical Distribution ◽  
The South ◽  
South Eastern ◽  
Egyptian Mongoose ◽  
Herpestes Ichneumon

The current geographical distribution of the Egyptian Mongoose or Large Grey Mongoose, Herpestes ichneumon (Linnaeus, 1758), in South Africa is limited to the south-eastern coastal and eastern sections of the country. One recent sighting in the central part of the country suggested a wider geographical distribution. In this study, we report on confirmed sightings of the Egyptian Mongoose on consecutive years in the central part (at Sasol’s Synfuels Plant in Secunda) of the country. Our sightings thus expand the distribution of the Egyptian Mongoose in South Africa to include some sections of the central to eastern part of the country.

Late Wisconsin mammalian faunas and environmental gradients of the eastern United States

Paleobiology ◽  
1976 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 343-350 ◽  
Author(s):  
Russell W. Graham
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Environmental Gradients ◽  
Species Density ◽  
Eastern United States ◽  
Mammal Species ◽  
Steppe Species ◽  
Mammalian Faunas ◽  
Group A ◽  
Summer Temperatures ◽  
Vole Species

Small mammal species distribution, density, and composition of modern and Pleistocene faunas from the eastern United States provide information about environmental gradients. Higher summer temperatures and less effective moisture along a transect from the northeast to the southwest can be correlated with the distribution of small mammals as well as decreases in the total number of shrew and vole species. Relative frequencies of “boreal”, “deciduous”, and “steppe” species are more equal in late Wisconsin than modern faunas which are predominantly composed of only one group. A higher vole species density is prevalent in each late Wisconsin fauna and eleven of twelve of these faunas have a higher shrew species density than the corresponding modern fauna. Many shrew and vole species that are today endemic to the boreal provinces were cosmopolitan during the late Wisconsin. Moderate environmental gradients of the equable late Wisconsin climates allowed integration of boreal species with resident species in the south.

Biogeography of the Egyptian mongoose Herpestes ichneumon (Linnaeus, 1758) in Africa, with first records for Laikipia County, central Kenya

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dedan Kabuu Ngatia ◽  
Paul Waswa Webala ◽  
Mugo J. Mware ◽  
Thomas M. Butynski ◽  
Yvonne A. Jong ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Egyptian Mongoose ◽  
Herpestes Ichneumon ◽  
Central Kenya

scholarly journals Niche Characterization of Shrub Functional Groups along an Atlantic-Mediterranean Gradient

Forests ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 982
Author(s):  
Adriana E. Olthoff ◽  
Carolina Martínez-Ruiz ◽  
Josu G. Alday
Keyword(s):  
Functional Groups ◽  
Environmental Gradients ◽  
Land Use Changes ◽  
Distribution Patterns ◽  
National Forest Inventory ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Natural Forests ◽  
Northern Spain ◽  
Response Curves ◽  
The North

The identification of the factors controlling the understory species distribution and abundance is essential to understand the ecology and dynamics of natural forests and their management response. We assess the relationships between environmental gradients and shrub functional groups distribution patterns and niche characteristics in a transitional area between the Eurosiberian and Mediterranean biogeographic regions in Northern Spain. Here, 772 plots from the 3rd Spanish National Forest Inventory were used. Shrub functional groups respond to the same complex environmental gradients as trees, i.e., the north-south climatic gradient and a slope gradient. Unimodal response curves of shrub functional groups and families dominate along both gradients, providing evidence of successful functional turnover. Similar to tree species, the niche location of functionally related shrubs is close. Functional groups occupying environments with sharp contrast or transitional environments have the broadest niches, whereas those specialized functional groups occupying localized habitats showed the narrowest niches. The knowledge of shrub species distributions and niche characteristics along complex environmental gradients will improve our ability to discuss potential conservation management goals or threats due to land-use changes and future climate change.

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