Videvall lab

Animal microbiomes

Scandinavian wolverine, photo by Jonathan Othén.

We are fascinated by microbiomes in animals, how these microbial communities are formed and how they affect their hosts.

Our research questions include for example: which symbiotic microbes live in association with wild animals and how does microbial variation look like among individuals? How are microbes inherited from parents to offspring? And to what extent are they shaped by the local environment versus the animals' own genomes? How much does diet influence the microbiome? And how does captivity and feralization affect their diversity and composition? Finally, how does the microbiome, in turn, impact animal health, fitness, and the phenotype, including behavior?

We use DNA sequencing methods of different mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians to investigate these questions.

For more information, please see our external website

Group members

Research leader: Elin Videvall

Group members: Charlotte Enkvist, Ester Martínez Renau, Gabriel Hedman Slottner, Madeleine Van Well Bergström, Matias Becker Burgos

Publications

Diet-microbiome covariation across three giraffe species in a close-contact zone

Videvall, Elin; Gill, Brian A.; Brown, Michael B.; Hoff, Hannah K. et al.

Part of Global Ecology and Conservation, 2025
- DOI for Diet-microbiome covariation across three giraffe species in a close-contact zone
- Download full text (pdf) of Diet-microbiome covariation across three giraffe species in a close-contact zone
The Role of Geography, Diet, and Host Phylogeny on the Gut Microbiome in the Hawaiian Honeycreeper Radiation

Costantini, Maria S.; Videvall, Elin; Foster, Jeffrey T.; Medeiros, Matthew C. I. et al.

Part of Ecology and Evolution, 2024
- DOI for The Role of Geography, Diet, and Host Phylogeny on the Gut Microbiome in the Hawaiian Honeycreeper Radiation
- Download full text (pdf) of The Role of Geography, Diet, and Host Phylogeny on the Gut Microbiome in the Hawaiian Honeycreeper Radiation
Molecular ecology of microbiomes in the wild: Common pitfalls, methodological advances and future directions

Fountain‐Jones, Nicholas M.; Giraud, Tatiana; Zinger, Lucie; Bik, Holly et al.

Part of Molecular Ecology, 2024
- DOI for Molecular ecology of microbiomes in the wild: Common pitfalls, methodological advances and future directions
Probing the functional significance of wild animal microbiomes using omics data

Worsley, Sarah F.; Videvall, Elin; Harrison, Xavier A.; Björk, Johannes R. et al.

Part of Functional Ecology, p. 2329-2349, 2024
- DOI for Probing the functional significance of wild animal microbiomes using omics data
- Download full text (pdf) of Probing the functional significance of wild animal microbiomes using omics data
Impact of ionizing radiation on the environmental microbiomes of Chornobyl wetlands

Videvall, Elin; Burraco, Pablo; Orizaola, German

Part of Environmental Pollution, 2023
- DOI for Impact of ionizing radiation on the environmental microbiomes of Chornobyl wetlands
Coprophagy rapidly matures juvenile gut microbiota in a precocial bird

Videvall, Elin; Bensch, Hanna M.; Engelbrecht, Anel; Cloete, Schalk et al.

Part of Evolution Letters, p. 240-251, 2023
- DOI for Coprophagy rapidly matures juvenile gut microbiota in a precocial bird
- Download full text (pdf) of Coprophagy rapidly matures juvenile gut microbiota in a precocial bird
Gene expression reveals immune response strategies of naïve Hawaiian honeycreepers experimentally infected with introduced avian malaria

Paxton, Kristina L; Cassin-Sackett, Loren; Atkinson, Carter T; Videvall, Elin et al.

Part of Journal of Heredity, p. 326-340, 2023
- DOI for Gene expression reveals immune response strategies of naïve Hawaiian honeycreepers experimentally infected with introduced avian malaria
Microbiomes associated with avian malaria survival differ between susceptible Hawaiian honeycreepers and sympatric malaria‐resistant introduced birds

Navine, Amanda K.; Paxton, Kristina L.; Paxton, Eben H.; Hart, Patrick J. et al.

Part of Molecular Ecology, p. 6659-6670, 2023
- DOI for Microbiomes associated with avian malaria survival differ between susceptible Hawaiian honeycreepers and sympatric malaria‐resistant introduced birds
Transcriptional response of individual Hawaiian Culex quinquefasciatus mosquitoes to the avian malaria parasite Plasmodium relictum

Ferreira, Francisco C.; Videvall, Elin; Seidl, Christa M.; Wagner, Nicole E. et al.

Part of Malaria Journal, 2022
- DOI for Transcriptional response of individual Hawaiian Culex quinquefasciatus mosquitoes to the avian malaria parasite Plasmodium relictum
- Download full text (pdf) of Transcriptional response of individual Hawaiian Culex quinquefasciatus mosquitoes to the avian malaria parasite Plasmodium relictum
Natural experiments and long-term monitoring are critical to understand and predict marine host–microbe ecology and evolution

Leray, Matthieu; Wilkins, Laetitia G. E.; Apprill, Amy; Bik, Holly M. et al.

Part of PLoS biology, 2021
- DOI for Natural experiments and long-term monitoring are critical to understand and predict marine host–microbe ecology and evolution

Research areas

Animal Ecology