Exposure to stressors can negatively impact the mammalian gastrointestinal microbiome (GIM). Here, we used 454 pyrosequencing of 16S rRNA bacterial gene amplicons to evaluate the impact of physiological stress, as evidenced by faecal glucocorticoid metabolites (FGCM; ng/g), on the GIM composition of free-ranging western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla). Although we found no relationship between GIM alpha diversity (H) and FGCM levels, we observed a significant relationship between the relative abundances of particular bacterial taxa and FGCM levels. Specifically, members of the family Anaerolineaceae (ρ=0.4, FDR q=0.01), genus Clostridium cluster XIVb (ρ=0.35, FDR q=0.02) and genus Oscillibacter (ρ=0.35, FDR q=0.02) were positively correlated with FGCM levels. Thus, while exposure to stressors appears to be associated with minor changes in the gorilla GIM, the consequences of these changes are unknown. Our results may have implications for conservation biology as well as for our overall understanding of factors influencing the non-human primate GIM.

Carl R Woese Institute for Genomic Biology University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign 1206 West Gregory Drive Urbana IL 61801 USA

CEITEC VFU University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences Brno Palackého tř 1946 1 Brno 61242 Czech Republic

Department of Animal Science University of Minnesota 1364 Eckles Aneue St Paul MN 55108 6118 USA

Department of Anthropology University of Colorado at Boulder 1350 Pleasant Street Boulder CO 80309 0233 USA

Department of Anthropology University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign 607 South Mathews Avenue Urbana IL 61801 USA

Department of Microbiology University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign 601 South Goodwin Avenue Urbana IL 61801 USA

Department of Pathology and Parasitology Faculty of Veterinary Medicine University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences Brno Palackého tř 1946 1 Brno 61242 Czech Republic

Fauna and Flora International Pembroke Street Cambridge CB2 3QZ UK

German Primate Centre Endocrinology Laboratory Kellnerweg 4 37077 Göttingen Germany

Institute of Parasitology Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences Branišovská 31 České Budějovice 37005 Czech Republic

Institute of Vertebrate Biology Czech Academy of Sciences Květná 8 Brno 60365 Czech Republic

J Craig Venter Institute 4120 Capricorn Lane La Jolla CA 92037 USA

J Craig Venter Institute 9714 Medical Center Drive Rockville MD 20850 USA

Liberec Zoo Masarykova 1347 31 Liberec 46001 Czech Republic

WWF Dzanga Sangha Protected Areas BP 1053 Bangui Central African Republic

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