Parakeet metagenomics

The echo parakeet on Mauritius was once the World’s rarest parrot, when less than 20 individuals remained in the 1980s. Since then, intensive captive breeding and reintroduction, as well as intensive management of the wild population in the form of supplementary feeding and provision of nest boxes, has enabled a dramatic recovery of this once critically-endangered species. The population today stands at more than 800 individuals free-living in Mauritius. The population is intensively managed and ongoing, long-term studies of productivity and fitness at the individual level, alongside genetic, genomic and ecological monitoring, are providing valuable data to help us understand the key drivers of recovery of bird populations. Sequencing of microbiome diversity at the individual level is helping us to understand the effects of microbiome on individual fitness alongside other factors such as genetic inbreeding, disease, and extent of provision of supplementary food together with intake of natural native diet. Given that the recovering population currently exists within a mosaic of different quality forest habitats, some near-pristine, others heavily degraded and others extensively restored through replanting schemes, we aim to explore potential linkages between forest type, host microbiome and host fitness. Studies such as this aim to identify important links between population recovery of endangered birds and forest restoration efforts.