Elevational variation in gut microbial community composition and predicted functional potential across three Himalayan redstart species

Elevation from 1,300 to 4,200 m is significantly associated with gut microbial community composition in three Himalayan redstart species, explaining ~3% of variation.

• Why it matters: Environmental gradients and seasonal movement could shape host gut microbiomes, but how elevational change contributes to microbial composition and function in montane birds is unclear.
• What they did: The study used 16S rRNA gene sequencing of 46 fecal samples from Phoenicurus fuliginosus, P. leucocephalus, and P. frontalis to test diversity, distance decay, co-occurrence networks, and PICRUSt2-predicted KEGG pathways.
• The result: PICRUSt2 identified 28 KEGG Level 3 pathways differing by elevation, and core taxa and co-occurrence networks varied across elevational groups, indicating elevation-linked functional potential and turnover.

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