Since the advent of human homes, our structures have become increasingly permanent and sealed from the outdoor environment. As our architecture has changed, so too have our interactions with other species. It has been suggested that we are now exposed to a less diverse set of species than were our ancestors and that our modern built environment is composed of organisms primarily sourced from our own bodies, such as microbes from feces and skin. These shifts in our species interactions can have detrimental effects on our health. For example, the loss of certain plant and soil associates in homes has been linked to an increase in atopic sensitization and autoimmune disorders. Yet, little is known about what those interactions might have been historically, or how such interactions vary among our living relatives. Here we present the first study of the microbes found in the sleeping place of a non-human primate, that of wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). We sampled bacteria from 41 chimpanzee beds in western Tanzania and assessed their diversity and likely origin, relative to the surrounding environment.
Results/Conclusions
We found no difference in the OTU richness or Shannon diversity of microbes in chimpanzee beds when compared to branches or leaves of the same tree. Though we could detect the presence of an individual, the strongest determining factors of both microbial diversity and community assemblage were season (wet or dry) and elevation above sea level (m). Additionally, the three most abundant family groups, Methylocystaceae, Pseudonocardiaceae, and Microbacteriaceae, are all previously described soil associates and/or environmental microbes. There was little to no accumulation of fecal, skin, or oral body-associated taxa. Skin associates were the most abundant (2.4% of reads from beds); however, they were no more common in beds than from the adjacent environment. Our results suggest that the microbes to which chimpanzees are exposed while resting are predominately environmental, and their beds are mostly continuous with the habitat in which they are embedded.