Diet and host phylogeny drive the taxonomic and functional contents of the gut microbiome
in mammals, yet it is unknown whether these patterns hold across all vertebrate lineages …

Birds harbor complex gut bacterial communities that may sustain their ecologies and
facilitate their biological roles, distribution, and diversity. Research on gut microbiomes in …

Plastic waste and debris have caused substantial environmental pollution globally in the
past decades, and they have been accumulated in hundreds of terrestrial and aquatic avian …

The variation and taxonomic diversity among mammalian gut microbiomes raises several
questions about the factors that contribute to the rates and patterns of change in these …

The mammalian intestine is richly supplied with lymphatic vasculature, which has functions
ranging from maintenance of interstitial fluid balance to transport of antigens, antigen …

In vertebrates and invertebrates, morphological and functional features of gastrointestinal
(GI) tracts generally reflect food chemistry, such as content of carbohydrates, proteins, fats …

The intestinal microbiota have now been shown to largely affect host health through various
functional roles in terms of nutrition, immunity, and other physiological systems. However …

Migratory birds are physiologically specialized to accumulate massive fat stores (up to 50–
60% of body mass), and to transport and oxidize fatty acids at very high rates to sustain flight …

The morphological and functional design of gastrointestinal tracts of many vertebrates and
invertebrates can be explained largely by the interaction between diet chemical constituents …

Background The vertebrate gut microbiome (GM) can vary substantially across individuals
within the same natural population. Although there is evidence linking the GM to health in …