In this PhD study, I investigated two broad classes of drivers of gut microbial communities’
variation in threatened species under conservation breeding programs. Firstly, heritable
drivers are potentially not reversible, or if so, over multiple host generations and therefore
operate at long-term scales. Second, immediate drivers could induce variation in microbial
community composition in a reversible manner and at the individual level of the host. I
hypothesized that host genotype and birth location are heritable drivers, and host diet,
biology (such as hibernation) and environment (captivity and geography) are short-term
immediate drivers.
