The gut microbiome is a highly dynamic ecosystem, with the number and types of microbes shifting from day-to-day. These shifts can have huge consequences for host health and fitness. But, few studies have had the detailed longitudinal data necessary to study long-term microbial dynamics. Primatologists, with their traditional focus on tracking the lives of individual animals and familiarity with longitudinal fecal sampling, are well-positioned to conduct research at the forefront of gut microbiome dynamics. By leveraging long-term field observations of environmental change, diet, kinship relationships, and social behaviors, primatology can tease apart the socioecological sculptors of microbial change.
