Ecological and genetic variables co‐vary with social group identity to shape the gut microbiome of a pair‐living primate.

Primates exhibit diverse social systems that are intricately linked to their biology, behavior, and evolution, all of which influence the acquisition and maintenance of their gut microbiomes (GMs). However, most studies of wild primate populations focus on taxa with relatively large group sizes, and few consider pair‐living species. To address this gap, we investigate how a primate's social system interacts with key environmental, social, and genetic variables to shape the GM in pair‐living, red‐bellied lemurs (Eulemur rubriventer). Previous research on this species suggests that social interactions within groups influence interindividual microbiome similarity; however, the impacts of other nonsocial variables and their relative contributions to gut microbial variation remain unclear. We sequenced the 16S ribosomal RNA hypervariable V4–V5 region to characterize the GM from 26 genotyped individuals across 11 social groups residing in Ranomafana National Park, Madagascar. We estimated the degree to which sex, social group identity, genetic relatedness, dietary diversity, and home range proximity were associated with variation in the gut microbial communities residing in red‐bellied lemurs. All variables except sex played a significant role in predicting GM composition. Our model had high levels of variance inflation, inhibiting our ability to determine which variables were most predictive of gut microbial composition. This inflation is likely due to red‐bellied lemurs' pair‐living, pair‐bonded social system that leads to covariation among environmental, social, and genetic variables. Our findings highlight some of the factors that predict GM composition in a tightly bonded, pair‐living species and identify variables that require further study. We propose that future primate microbiome studies should simultaneously consider environmental, social, and genetic factors to improve our understanding of the relationships among sociality, the microbiome, and primate ecology and evolution. Research Highlights: We highlight diverse social, environmental, and genetic factors that shape the red‐bellied lemur gut microbiome (GM) and encourage additional comparative studies with other pair‐living primate species to further investigate GM variation within the context of a pair‐living social organization.Multicollinearity among predictor variables—likely due to red‐bellied lemurs' social system—hindered our ability to estimate the relative contributions of each variable in predicting GM variation.We caution future microbiome studies to assess their variables for multicollinearity before analyses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]