Study On Behavior And Intestinal Microbial Diversity Of Midday Gerbil (Meriones Meridianus) Under Indoor Rearing Conditions

Meriones meridianus is a typical desert rodent species.It was found that midday gerbil has strong adaptability in desert because of its tolerant niche,low social contact and conservative life strategy.Gut microbes play an important role in animal physiology,ecology,evolution and metabolism.There is also an important interaction between animal behavior rhythm and gut microbes(gut brain axis).Behavioral changes and changes in the composition of intestinal bacteria may play an important role in the adaptation of midday gerbil to the external environment.In this study,midday gerbil was selected as the research object.Through behavioral observation,the behavior types,patterns and frequency changes of midday gerbil under indoor rearing conditions were recorded,so as to clarify the adaptability of midday gerbil to indoor rearing environment and determine the feasibility of indoor animal behavioral experiment;Combining with 16 S r RNA high-throughput sequencing technology,we compared the colonization changes of intestinal microorganisms of midday gerbil after being transferred from the field environment to indoor rearing,identified the core and variable flora of midday gerbil,the loss of intestinal community after indoor rearing,and the steady-state after finally adapting to the environment,so as to find out the main reasons affecting the adaptability of intestinal microorganisms,To reveal the behavior of animals in the process of adapting to the new environment and the fluctuation of Microecology in vivo,so as to lay a theoretical foundation for the study of ecological adaptability of midday gerbil.The main results are as follows1.Indoor adaptability of midday gerbil based on EthologyThe behavior of midday gerbil is mainly sleeping,feeding and walking.Its activities are frequent and regular.The contrast between day and night activities is more obvious.The peak period of activity is from 20:00 to 8:00 the next day,The sleeping,feeding,running,sniffing and alerting behaviors of midday gerbil were correlated with feeding time.The activities of midday gerbil were frequent in the early stage of indoor rearing,but decreased in the middle and late stage.Indoor rearing mainly affected the sleeping behavior and feeding behavior of midday gerbil.After 30 days of indoor rearing,the sleep time of midday gerbil increased,the feeding time decreased,and the running time decreased.All of them showed a decreased alertness to the environment,and the external showed a gradual adaptation to the living environment.The results laid a foundation for the subsequent study of intestinal diversity of midday gerbil in indoor rearing.2.Study on Adaptability of midday gerbil based on the diversity of Intestinal microbesThe core phylum of wild midday gerbil is Firmicutes,Bacteroides,Desulfobacterota,Actunobacteriota and Proteobacteria,and the core genus is norank?f??Muribaculace,Lactobacillus,Desulfovibrio,Bifidobacterium,lachnospiraceae?NK4A136?group?norank?f??Christensenellaceae.The intestinal community composition of midday gerbils was not significantly different in sex.The results showed that the intestinal microflora of midday gerbil in the same food group gradually approached,and there were significant differences in the intestinal microflora of midday gerbil in different groups.Bacteroidotas was the first dominant phylum in the intestinal bacteria of midday gerbil in Corn group,while Firmicutes was the first dominant phylum in wild group,SPF group and Wheat group.Norank?f??muribaculace was the dominant bacteria genus in the Corn group and Wheat group,while Lactobacillus was the dominant bacteria genus in the Wild group and SPF group.The decrease of the abundance of Christensenellaceae and Desulfovibrio,and the increase of Bifidobacterium in the Corn group and Wheat group were the dominant bacteria genus in the wild and rat food groups.The increase of Alistepes and Odoribacter in the SPF group,the loss of Barnesiellaceae and Granulicatella in the wild group all proved that the change of food resources had an impact on midday gerbil,and it was necessary to change the abundance of bacteria to adapt to the change of environment.However,even the SPF group with the most intestinal microbial diversity still irreversibly lost the original flora.After the remolding of indoor food,the intestinal flora of different groups formed a new stable structure to achieve the homeostability of the internal environment and adapt to the changes of the indoor environment.