Biology subjects

Dendrinos, P.

Publications and source records attributed to Dendrinos, P..

2 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2023

Fecal and skin microbiota of two rescued Mediterranean monk seal pups during rehabilitation

The role of animal host-associated microbiomes is becoming more apparent and defined for wild animals, especially for the species under conservation strategies. This study investigated the succession of fecal and skin bacterial microbiota of two rescued female Mediterranean monk seal (Monachus monachus) pups for most of their rehabilitation period. Bacterial species richness and diversity was assessed by high-throughput sequencing of nine freshly collected fecal samples and four skin swabs per individual. Both the fecal and skin microbiota highly overlapped in their containing operational taxonomic units (OTUs) and abundance patterns. The fecal microbiota was separated in two distinct periods, and was dominated by OTUs related to the Shigella, Streptococcus, Enterococcus, Lactobacillus and Escherichia genera in the first period, while in the second period the dominating genera were the Clostridium, Blautia, Fusobacterium, Edwardsiella and Bacteroides. The skin microbiota was highly similar between the two individuals in each sampling and were dominated by Psychrobacter-, Elizabethkingia- and Bergeyella-related OTUs. The provided antibiotic treatment along with the provided probiotics and nutritional supplements, resulted in a major turnover of the bacterial microbiota with the potentially detrimental OTUs being eliminated towards the end of the rehabilitation period, prior to the release of the pups in the wild.

microbiology↗

bioRxiv2021

The antique genetic plight of the Mediterranean monk seal (Monachus monachus)

Disentangling the impact of Late Quaternary climate change from human activities can have crucial implications on the conservation of endangered species. We investigated the population genetics and demography of the Mediterranean monk seal (Monachus monachus), one of the worlds most endangered marine mammals, through an unprecedented dataset encompassing historical (extinct) and extant populations from the eastern North Atlantic to the entire Mediterranean Basin. We show that Cabo Blanco (Western Sahara/Mauritania), Madeira, Western Mediterranean (historical range), and Eastern Mediterranean regions segregate into four populations. This structure is likely the consequence of recent drift, combined with long-term isolation by distance (R2 = 0.7), resulting from prevailing short-distance (< 500 km) and infrequent long-distance dispersal (< 1,500 km). All populations (Madeira especially), show high levels of inbreeding and low levels of genetic diversity, seemingly declining since historical time, but surprisingly not being impacted by the 1997 massive die-off in Cabo Blanco. Approximate Bayesian Computation analyses support scenarios combining local extinctions and a major effective population size decline in all populations during Antiquity. Our results suggest that the early densification of human populations around the Mediterranean Basin coupled with the development of seafaring techniques were the main drivers of the decline of Mediterranean monk seals.

genetics↗