Dynamics of Microbial Communities on Eggshells and on Nest Materials During Incubation in the Oriental Tit (Parus Minor)

Abstract Eggshell microbial communities may affect hatching success and nestling’s condition. Nest materials are in direct contact with the eggshells, but the relationships with the eggshell microbiome during incubation have not been fully elucidated. Here, we characterize eggshell and nest-material microbial communities and their changes during incubation in the Oriental Tit (Parus minor). Microbial communities on the nest material were relatively stable and remained distinct from the eggshell communities, and had higher diversity and greater phylogenetic clustering compared to the eggshell communities from the same nest, resulting in lower phylogenetic turnover rate of nest material microbiome during incubation than expected by chance. While the species diversity of both communities did not change during incubation, we found significantly greater changes in the structure of microbial communities on the eggshell than on the nest material. However, eggshell microbiome remained distinct from nest material microbiome, suggesting independent dynamics between the two microbiomes during incubation. We detected an increase in the relative abundance of several bacterial taxa on the eggshell that likely come from the bird’s skin, feathers or cloaca/intestine, which suggests some exchange of bacteria between the incubating bird and the eggshell. Furthermore, incubation appeared to promote the abundance of antibiotic producing taxa on the eggshell, which may hypothetically inhibit growth of many bacteria including pathogenic ones. Our results suggest that the future studies should focus on simultaneous monitoring of absolute abundance as well as relative abundance in communities on eggshells, nest materials and the incubating bird’s body.