Intestinal Microbiota of Anser fabalis Wintering in Two Lakes in the Middle and Lower Yangtze River Floodplain

Simple Summary A. fabalis are the main migratory waterfowl during the winter. The main habitats of A. fabalis are Caizi lake and Shengjin Lake in the Middle and Lower Yangtze River Floodplain. We utilized high-throughput sequencing and bioinformatics to analyze the composition and structural characteristics of the intestinal microbiota of Caizi Lake (CL) and Shengjin Lake (SL) A. fabalis during overwintering. Lactobacillus is the main genus of A. fabalis, of which Lactobacillus aviaries is the highest. There was only a positive correlation between Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria in the intestinal microbiota of SL A. fabalis, and the species were closely related. However, CL is mainly associated with a positive correlation between Firmicutes and Actinomycetes. The functions of intestinal microbiota of A. fabalis involve energy production and transformation, amino acid transport and metabolism, carbohydrate transport and metabolism, and transcription. This study provides basic data for the study of intestinal microbiota of A. fabalis. The intestinal microbiota of migratory birds participate in the life activities of the host and are affected by external environmental factors. The difference in habitat environment provides diversity in external environmental selection pressure for the same overwintering waterfowl, which may be reflected in their intestinal microbiota. Caizi lake and Shengjin Lake in the Middle and Lower Yangtze River Floodplain are the main habitats for migratory waterfowl in winter, especially the Anser fabalis (A. fabalis). It is important to explore the changes in intestinal microbiota composition and function of A. fabalis in the early overwintering period to clarify the effect of habitat size and protection status on intestinal microbiota. In this study, the composition and structural characteristics of the intestinal microbiota of A. fabalis in Shengjin Lake (SL) and Caizi Lake (CL) were preliminarily explored in order to obtain data for the migratory birds. In both SL and CL groups, 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing analysis showed that Firmicutes was the dominant bacterial phylum, but the relative abundance showed significant differences. Lactobacillus was the most abundant genus in both SL and CL groups. At the species level, the abundance of L. aviaries was the highest, with a relative abundance in both SL and CL groups of more than 34%. When comparing the average relative abundance of the 15 most abundant genera, it was found that Subdoligranulum, Exiguobacterium, and Terrisporobacter had higher abundances in the intestinal microbiota of CL A. fabalis, while Streptococcus and Rothia had higher abundances in the intestinal microbiota of SL A. fabalis. There was only a positive correlation between Bacteroidota and Proteobacteria in the intestinal microbiota flora of SL A. fabalis, and the species were closely related. At the same time, there were positive and negative correlations between Firmicutes and Actinomycetes. However, CL is mainly associated with a positive correlation between Firmicutes and Actinomycetes, and there are also a small number of connections between Firmicutes. PICRUSt1 prediction analysis revealed that the Clusters of Orthologous Groups (COG) functions of SL and CL involve energy production and transformation, amino acid transport and metabolism, carbohydrate transport and metabolism, and transcription. Understanding the changes in intestinal microbiota in Aves during the overwintering period is of great importance to explore the adaptation mechanism of migratory Aves to the overwintering environment. This work provides basic data for an A. fabalis intestinal microbiota study.