Microorganisms on Caiman latirostris eggshell and egg membrane.

NUÑEZ OTAÑO, NOELIA B.; ARAMBARRI ANGELICA; CARLOS I. PIÑA

Manaus - Brasil

Congreso; 20th Working Meeting Crocodile Specialist Group (UICN); 2010

The warm, moist microenvironment and presence of organic matter at nesting site of some reptiles is ideal for the growth of soil fungi that contribute to the hatching success of the eggs either by decomposing the eggshell and/or secreting mycotoxine that adversely affect the developing embryos (Elshafie et al., 2007). Fungi have been recognized to contribute to the mortality of lizard, snake and sea turtle eggs (Fitch & Fitch, 1968; Phillott & Parmeter, 2001b). We analyze Caiman latirostris egg microbiota with the aim to obtain a first list of fungi living on eggshell and/or egg membrane processing samples by particle washed method (Mueller et al, 2004). We found fungi on a 53% of the eggshell particles and 46% of the membrane particles on the other hand bacteria were more represented in the membrane than in the eggshell (57 % and 47 % respectively). We perform a Chi-square analysis and found no independence in preferences of microorganisms for different substrata (X2 = 13.86). We focus on fungi and were determined to species. Exclusively for this group our results for Richness (S) and Abundance (N) were higher on membrane (S = 7 and N = 13) than in the eggshell (S = 4 and N = 9). We assume membrane is a more nutritive substratum for fungi growth than eggshell and this could be an explanation for our findings. This work is a first step on these issues for C. latirostris and we will use these results to analyze more aspect of the interaction fungi ? egg and his effects on reproductive traits.