Social Behaviour Drives Gut Microbiome Community Assembly Among Wild Long‐Tailed Macaques ( Macaca fascicularis ) in Thailand
8 affiliations
- 1Faculty of Science and Engineering, School of Life Sciences Anglia Ruskin University Cambridge UK
- 2Department of Biological Sciences Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Mohali India
- 3School of Biology, Institute of Science Suranaree University of Technology Nakhon Ratchasima Thailand
- 4Department of Population Health and Reproduction, School of Veterinary Medicine University of California—Davis Davis California USA
- 5Department of Biology, Faculty of Science Chulalongkorn University Bangkok Thailand
- 6National Primate Research Center of Thailand Chulalongkorn University Saraburi Thailand
- 7Center of Excellence in Systems Microbiology, Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine Chulalongkorn University Bangkok Thailand
- 8Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science Mahidol University Bangkok Thailand
Abstract
The ‘social microbiome’ conceptualises gut microbial communities as ‘islands’ of host social organisation. Yet, in comparison to broader aspects of social organisation such as animals' group membership and composition, the impact of inter‐individual differences in sociality on microbiome community ecology remains less well studied. Among a wild but human‐provisioned group of long‐tailed macaques ( Macaca fascicularis ), we assessed the relative effects of individuals' sociality, compared to their demographic characteristics, anthropogenic and abiotic environmental factors, and microbe‐microbe associations, on the relative abundance and co‐occurrence of bacterial taxa. Bipartite network analysis showed that bacterial communities among macaques were nested rather than segregated or modular structures. Several ‘core’ bacterial genera were found across all macaques, but other ‘non‐core’ bacteria were found only in a few macaques suggesting that their occurrence/abundance may be influenced by transient environmental factors. Joint Species Distributions Models showed that macaques' sociality, particularly their dominance rank and their connectedness or centrality within their social grooming network, had the strongest impact on taxa abundance, followed by their demographic characteristics, and finally their exposure to both anthropogenic and abiotic environmental factors. Phylogenetically distant taxa were more likely to co‐occur within the same macaque hosts than phylogenetically related taxa. These findings confirm that microbiome communities are strongly influenced by the social status and connectedness of individual hosts. Nevertheless, the finding that some taxa were more prevalent among high‐ranking or well‐connected macaques, while others were more prevalent among low‐ranking or socially peripheral macaques, warrants further investigation into how individual differences in social microbiomes might affect their health and fitness. Future studies, through the collection of behavioural and microbial data on additional macaque groups, may provide further insights into the relative effects of animals' social organisation and social behaviours on microbiomes.
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BibTeX
@article{balasubramaniam2026social,
title = {{Social Behaviour Drives Gut Microbiome Community Assembly Among Wild Long‐Tailed Macaques ( Macaca fascicularis ) in Thailand}},
author = {Krishna Balasubramaniam and Jishnu Kesh and Nalina Aiempichitkijkarn and Robert Atwill and Suchinda Malaivijitnond and Brenda McCowan and Juthamas Nimnual and Vorthon Sawaswong and Suthida Visedthorn and Sunchai Payungporn},
journal = {Ecology and Evolution},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
doi = {10.1002/ece3.74612},
url = {https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.74612},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Social Behaviour Drives Gut Microbiome Community Assembly Among Wild Long‐Tailed Macaques ( Macaca fascicularis ) in Thailand
AU - Krishna Balasubramaniam
AU - Jishnu Kesh
AU - Nalina Aiempichitkijkarn
AU - Robert Atwill
AU - Suchinda Malaivijitnond
AU - Brenda McCowan
AU - Juthamas Nimnual
AU - Vorthon Sawaswong
AU - Suthida Visedthorn
AU - Sunchai Payungporn
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/11/01
JO - Ecology and Evolution
DO - 10.1002/ece3.74612
UR - https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.74612
AB - The ‘social microbiome’ conceptualises gut microbial communities as ‘islands’ of host social organisation. Yet, in comparison to broader aspects of social organisation such as animals' group membership and composition, the impact of inter‐individual differences in sociality on microbiome community ecology remains less well studied. Among a wild but human‐provisioned group of long‐tailed macaques ( Macaca fascicularis ), we assessed the relative effects of individuals' sociality, compared to their demographic characteristics, anthropogenic and abiotic environmental factors, and microbe‐microbe associations, on the relative abundance and co‐occurrence of bacterial taxa. Bipartite network analysis showed that bacterial communities among macaques were nested rather than segregated or modular structures. Several ‘core’ bacterial genera were found across all macaques, but other ‘non‐core’ bacteria were found only in a few macaques suggesting that their occurrence/abundance may be influenced by transient environmental factors. Joint Species Distributions Models showed that macaques' sociality, particularly their dominance rank and their connectedness or centrality within their social grooming network, had the strongest impact on taxa abundance, followed by their demographic characteristics, and finally their exposure to both anthropogenic and abiotic environmental factors. Phylogenetically distant taxa were more likely to co‐occur within the same macaque hosts than phylogenetically related taxa. These findings confirm that microbiome communities are strongly influenced by the social status and connectedness of individual hosts. Nevertheless, the finding that some taxa were more prevalent among high‐ranking or well‐connected macaques, while others were more prevalent among low‐ranking or socially peripheral macaques, warrants further investigation into how individual differences in social microbiomes might affect their health and fitness. Future studies, through the collection of behavioural and microbial data on additional macaque groups, may provide further insights into the relative effects of animals' social organisation and social behaviours on microbiomes.
SN - 2045-7758
SN - 2045-7758
ER -