Abstract
We took advantage of a five-decade ‘chronosequence’ of host-microbiome
evolution to examine changes in the gut microbiome as wild populations
evolve. In an iconic example of rapid evolution in the wild, Trinidadian
guppies have displayed parallel phenotypic convergence when translocated
six times from high predation (HP) to low predation (LP) environments,
but changes in microbiome are unknown. We find microbiomes of fish
translocated 5-6 years ago were already more similar to LP native
populations than HP sources, and attribute this to both environmental
and host-morphological changes. While diet was a minor driver of
microbiome structure, we suggest a nutritional role for the gut
microbiome in guppy evolution whereby nitrogen-fixing bacteria
supplement the low-nutrient diet in LP environments. We show that
environment and rapid phenotypic shifts in gut traits interact to
control microbiome assembly, and suggest the gut microbiome plays an
important but not necessarily consistent role in rapid host evolution.