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Updated: Apr 5, 2026

Compost Microcosms as Microbially Diverse, Natural-like Environments for Microbiome Research in Caenorhabditis elegans
Published on: September 13, 2022
High nutrient availability reduces the diversity and stability of the equine caecal microbiota
Naja C K Hansen1, Ekaterina Avershina2, Liv T Mydland1
1Department of Animal and Aquacultural Sciences, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Aas, Norway.
Background:
It is well known that nutrient availability can alter the gut microbiota composition, while the effect on diversity and temporal stability remains largely unknown.
Methods:
Here we address the equine caecal microbiota temporal stability, diversity, and functionality in response to diets with different levels of nutrient availability. Hay (low and slower nutrient availability) versus a mixture of hay and whole oats (high and more rapid nutrient availability) were used as experimental diets.
Results:
We found major effects on the microbiota despite that the caecal pH was far from sub-clinical acidosis. We found that the low nutrient availability diet was associated with a higher level of both diversity and temporal stability of the caecal microbiota than the high nutrient availability diet. These observations concur with general ecological theories, suggesting a stabilising effect of biological diversity and that high nutrient availability has a destabilising effect through reduced diversity.
Conclusion:
Nutrient availability does not only change the composition but also the ecology of the caecal microbiota.
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