Research on the intestinal microbial diversity of Wild Rock Sheep on the Qinghai- Tibet plateau

The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, China's largest ecologically fragile and sensitive region, is critical for understanding wildlife-environment interactions.To clarify the gut microbiota characteristics of Wild Rock Sheep (Pseudois nayaur) in this region and explore their potential ecological implications, we performed 16S rDNA sequencing on field-collected fecal samples.A total of 386,588 high-quality sequences were obtained, with an average of 111,382 valid combined sequences per sample.At the phylum level, Firmicutes dominate over Bacteroidetes, with notable inter-individual variations in their relative abundances.At the genus level, UCG-005 and Rikenellaceae-RC9-gut-group were the key differential taxa.with distinct abundances across samples.-diversity indices (Chao1, ACE, Simpson, and Shannon) indicated high species richness, diversity, and evenness in the microbial communities, reflecting a stable gut ecosystem.Functional prediction revealed that the gut microbiota was primarily involved in core metabolic processes, including carbohydrate, amino acid, cofactor and vitamin metabolic processes, as well as terpenoid/polyketide, nucleotide, energy, and lipid metabolism.Compared to prior studies on Rock Sheep gut microbiota, our work uniquely focuses on the ecologically fragile Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, linking microbial traits to potential adaptations to high-altitude environments.These findings enhance understanding of wildlife-microbiota-environment interactions and provide baseline data for conservation and ecological management in the region.