K. Zhang

PhD project: Seasonal adaptations in avian hosts and associated microbiota

Microbiota plays an important role in maintaining bird ecology and promoting host biology,distribution and diversity. Environmental heterogeneity between seasons, as well as environmental changes during migration, may play a key role in shaping the composition of bird gut microbiomes that may outweigh the effects of species specific or host evolutionary relationships, but this effect has not been well studied. Moreover, seasonal variations in abiotic factors are often associated with changes in various aspects of bird biology and respond to environmental changes through endogenous rhythmic controllers. It has been suggested that changes in bird gut flora mediate host physiological and immune seasonal adaptation. However, little is known about the relationship between gut flora and physiological and immune adaptation in birds.

The goal of my PhD study is to address the impact of seasonal environmental variation, and the global variation therein, on the gut bacterial community composition and function in birds. I will explore seasonal changes in the gut bacterial communities of birds from the perspective of physiological and immune function using an environment-bird-microbial model system. Based on the research themes above, my questions will be centred on three aspects:

• To explore the seasonal variation of bird gut bacterial communities under different environmental heterogeneity.
• To explore the interaction between the external environment, gut bacteriota and the physiological and immune functions of birds.
• A meta-analysis to explore the effects of climate or seasonal changes on the distribution pattern of global bird gut bacteriota.

In general, I believe that avian model systems offer unique opportunities to explore environment-host-microbiome interactions that help to develop adaptive strategies in evolutionary ecology and physiological immunity.