The gut microbiome is important for host health and can be influenced by environmental
and hormonal changes. We studied the interactions between anthropogenic land use,
glucocorticoid hormones, and gut bacterial communities in common toads (Bufo bufo).
We sampled tadpoles from ponds of three habitat types (natural, agricultural, and
urban ponds), examined gut microbiome composition using amplicon sequencing of the
16S rRNA gene, and measured the associated stress physiology using water-borne hormones.
Tadpoles from different habitat types significantly differed in bacterial composition.
However, bacterial richness, Shannon diversity, and Firmicutes to Bacteroidota ratio
did not vary with habitat type. In contrast with other studies, we found a positive
correlation between baseline corticosterone release rate and bacterial diversity.
Stress response and negative feedback were not significantly correlated with bacterial
diversity. These results suggest that, despite alterations in the composition of intestinal
bacterial communities due to land-use change, common toad tadpoles in anthropogenic
habitats may maintain their physiological health in terms of the “gut-brain axis”.
