Influence of management practice on the microbiota of a critically endangered species: a longitudinal study of kākāpō chick faeces and associated nest litter

Table 1 Distribution of faecal (chicks) and litter (nest) samples with covariate groupings

	Chick age/Days since first chick in nest
	< 14 days	15–28 days	29–42 days	43–56 days	57–70 days	71–120 days	200 + days
Faecal samples	53	39	54	43	32	21	45
No. of chicks	45	34	46	39	29	16	37
Litter samples	35	32	22	21	8	6	N/A
No. of nests	28	26	19	19	7	4	N/A

^Of the 287 faecal samples collected, 43 represent faecal material that was pooled where it could not be attributed to a single chick in a nest of multiple juvenile kākāpō
*Indicates number of chicks that were raised entirely in captivity
^#Faecal samples collected from chicks with no visitors to the nest, but which were placed in a nest previously inhabited by other juveniles (grouped separately for statistical analyses)

ISSN: 2524-4671