Microbial life is important to human and animal health, as they help with important functions of the body.  Looking specifically at the gut, gut bacteria (gastrointestinal bacteria), help the body with digestion, immune functions, and general health.  There is little knowledge about how the many different bacterial communities change in animal bodies. To have a better understanding about this change, Wouter van Dongen and his colleagues at the Vetmeduni Vienna have scrutinized the cloaca of black-legged kittiwakes at different ages.  The cloaca of a vertebrae is a passage for feces, urine, and other body fluids to exit the body.  Since the cloaca has similar bacteria to the gastrointestinal tract, Wouter van Dongen and his colleagues have examined the bacteria samples from there.

In order to gain the samples of the bacteria from the cloacae, the examiners used a “flushing” technique which involved filling the cloacae with a salt solution and then collecting the liquid.  The researchers flushed the cloacae of kittiwake chicks and adults for a comparison of bacteria living in the guts.  To their surprise, the chicks and the adults shared only seven out of 64 species of bacteria.  The gut of an adult kittawake was less diverse and also had some species of bacteria that were not found in kittiwake chicks.  This is a surprise to the researchers because since the kittiwake chicks nest with their parents and receive regurgitated food from their parents, the amount of common bacteria species was thought to be way higher than what was found.  There may be a correlation between the difference of bacteria species and changes of the gut chemistry of the birds as they age, along with the changes of their diet.  It could be possible that there is competition between the different species of bacteria, but more research is being done to further understand the differences between the bacteria in the guts of these birds