Figure 1 : (a) Phylogenetic relationships of the avian taxa from which we obtained fecal samples. The phylogenetic tree was made using Vertlife.org. (b) Agarose gel showing bands produced by PCR amplification of the V3-V4 regions of the 16S rRNA gene, using microbial DNA extracted from fecal samples following our new protocol. The lanes of the 2% agarose gel pictured in (b) contain the PCR product from the fecal microbiome of the avian species pictured directly above in the phylogeny (a). The negative control, an E coli positive control, as well as a 50bp ladder are also included in the agarose gel. For samples lacking bands in this gel, see supplementary figures.