Publications by authors named "Lotte H Skovmand"
Article Synopsis
- Mammals rely on their gut microbiota for energy and detoxifying their diet, which can adapt to changes in what they eat.
- This study focuses on black howler monkeys and explores how seasonal changes in their gut microbiome affect their nutrient intake and metabolism.
- The findings reveal that while fecal metabolite profiles change with the seasons, the composition of the gut microbiome does not strongly correlate with these changes, suggesting that the microbiome helps manage nutritional fluctuations, particularly when the diet is limited.
The keystone species concept is used in ecology to describe individual species with disproportionately large effects on their communities. We extend this idea to the level of genes with disproportionately large effects on ecological processes. Such 'keystone genes' (KGs) would underlie traits involved in species interactions or causing critical biotic and/or abiotic changes that influence emergent community and ecosystem properties.
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