Climate warming reduces gut microbiota diversity in a vertebrate ectotherm

International audienceClimate change is now considered as the greatest threat to biodiversity and ecological networks, but its impacts on the bacterial communities associated with plant or animals remain largely unknown. Here, we studied the consequences of climate warming on gut bacterial communities of an ectotherm, the common lizard (Zootoca vivipara), using a semi-natural experimental approach. We found that +2/3°C warmer climates cause a 34% loss of populations' microbiota diversity, with possible negative consequences for host survival