Incorporating microbiome analyses can enhance conservation of threatened species and ecosystem functions.

Conservation genomics is a rapidly growing subdiscipline of conservation biology that uses genome-wide information to inform management of biodiversity at all levels. Such efforts typically focus on species or systems of conservation interest, but rarely consider associated microbes. At least three major approaches have been used to study how microorganisms broadly contribute to conservation areas: (1) diversity surveys map out microbial species distribution patterns in a variety of hosts, natural environments or regions; (2) functional surveys associate microbial communities with factors of interest, such as host health, symbiotic interactions, environmental characteristics, ecosystem processes, and biological invasions; and (3) manipulative experiments examine the response of changes to microbial communities or determine the functional roles of specific microbes within hosts or communities by adding, removing, or genetically modifying microbes.

Bacterial symbionts support larval sap feeding and adult folivory in (semi-)aquatic reed beetles.

Symbiotic microbes can enable their host to access untapped nutritional resources but may also constrain niche space by promoting specialization. Here, we reconstruct functional changes in the evolutionary history of the symbiosis between a group of (semi-)aquatic herbivorous insects and mutualistic bacteria. Sequencing the symbiont genomes across 26 species of reed beetles (Chrysomelidae, Donaciinae) spanning four genera indicates that the genome-eroded mutualists provide life stage-specific benefits to larvae and adults, respectively.