All animals have evolved in association with microbial communities (also called microbiota). The gut microbiota in particular play a key role in determining host health, which has prompted the idea that the different gut microbiota can be an important mechanism by which animals can match their physiology to their environment. However, no-one has yet experimentally examined if and how gut microbiota predict health and fitness (number of offspring and survival) of animals in nature. The aim of my project is to quantify the specific role of variation in gut microbiota in regulating the physiology of their animal host, and its concomitant impacts on the health and fitness of a wild mammal (the bank vole) inhabiting different thermal conditions. This aim will be achieved by using an innovative combination of laboratory and field experiments designed to reveal causal links between gut microbiota and host adaptive potential.

2022

2025