Collaborative research: linking GUT microbiota to host nutrient dynamics, physiological performance, and survival in a resource-limited ecosystem

The National Science Foundation Division of Environmental Biology awarded the University of New Mexico $838,435 on February 1, 2027, under the Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074) to investigate how gut microbial communities contribute to nutritional resilience and survival in banner-tailed kangaroo rats inhabiting arid ecosystems. The research examines mechanisms through which gut microbes help mammals withstand nutritional stress during periods of resource scarcity, advancing understanding of host-microbe interactions and mammalian physiological resilience. The project develops analytical tools applicable to biotechnology and biomedical sciences, including techniques in field ecology, molecular biology, stable isotope analysis, bioinformatics, and quantitative modeling. The award supports STEM workforce development through interdisciplinary training for high school, undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral researchers across three research-intensive institutions. Performance occurs in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with a period of performance from February 1, 2027, through January 31, 2030. The University of New Mexico's Office of Sponsored Projects serves as the prime recipient.

Abstract

The GUT microbiome is increasingly recognized as a critical regulator of nutrition, metabolism, immune function, behavior, and aging in animals and humans. However, despite major advances in lab-based animal models, scientists still know relatively little about how GUT microbes influence survival and fitness in wild animals living under natural environmental conditions. This knowledge GAP is especially important, given that environmental variability that reduces the availability and quality of food that can cause stress, poor health, and disease. GUT microbes may help animals cope with these challenges by converting dietary resources into essential nutrients and metabolites that support their nutrition, physiological function, and survival during periods of scarcity. This project investigates how GUT microbial communities contribute to nutritional resilience and survival in banner-tailed kangaroo rats, a keystone granivorous rodent inhabiting arid ecosystems characterized by pronounced seasonal and annual variation in resource availability. By identifying the mechanisms through which GUT microbes help mammals withstand nutritional stress, the project will advance understanding of host-microbe interactions and the processes that promote resilience. This research advances fundamental knowledge of mammalian physiology, ecology, and symbiosis via development of analytical tools that could be adopted by biotechnology and the biomedical sciences. The project will also support stem workforce development through interdisciplinary training opportunities for high school, undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral researchers across three research-intensive institutions. Participants will gain hands-on experience in field ecology, molecular biology, stable isotope analysis, bioinformatics, and quantitative modeling through research, mentoring, and outreach activities. This project seeks to establish mechanistic links among host foraging behavior, GUT microbiome function, physiological performance, and survival in wild populations of banner-tailed kangaroo rats. The research will integrate stable isotope-based assessments of dietary strategies, amplicon sequencing and metatranscriptomic analyses of GUT microbial communities, compound-specific isotope tracing of microbial nutrient synthesis and allocation, measures of host physiological performance, and longitudinal monitoring of survival. The project will determine how GUT microbiome composition and function vary among individuals spanning a continuum from dietary specialization to generalization and whether these differences influence microbial nutrient production and assimilation by the host. Emphasis will be placed on quantifying the synthesis and host assimilation of microbiome-derived essential amino acids and short-chain fatty acids and evaluating their contribution to host bioenergetics under variable environmental conditions. Repeated measurements collected across seasons over three years will assess how microbial nutrient provisioning changes through time and whether IT improves energetic balance, physiological condition, and survival when resources are limited. Integrating these data into mechanistic survival models will test whether host foraging strategies and associated microbial functions predict fitness outcomes. By linking dietary behavior, microbial metabolism, nutrient allocation, physiological dynamics, and survival in a natural population, this project will advance a predictive framework for understanding how symbiotic microorganisms mediate organismal responses to environmental variability and influence fitness in rapidly changing environments. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.- subawards are not planned for this award.