show Abstracthide AbstractThis study uses faecal samples collected longitudinally from two populations of wood mice (Apodemus sylvaticus) in the UK (Wytham Woods, Oxfordshire and Silwood Park, Berkshire), to characterise their gut bacterial communities. Faecal samples from a captive colony of wood mice were also collected during an experimental diet perturbation study. Samples from the gastrointestinal tract were also collected from some mice in Wytham. The V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene was amplified using primer set 515F/806R and sequencing was performed on an Illumina Miseq with 250bp paired end reads.