The similarities and differences between the microbiomes of different animals made us wonder if species with similar diets have similar microbiomes, or whether the microbiomes are only similar because the species are related. For example, do a dolphin and a penguin have a similar microbiome because they both eat fish? Or, even though they have similar diets, do dolphins and penguins have different microbiomes because they are not closely related species? In science, it is common to create a hypothesis, then design an experiment, or a series of experiments, to test it. The results of the experiments are then reported in a trustworthy scientific journal. Other scientists read the report in the journal and come up with new ideas. Our hypothesis was that we would see the same bacteria in birds and animals with the same diet. Because this hypothesis needed multiple experiments to compare the microbiomes of different birds, this would have been impossible to do with a single experiment. To overcome this problem, we performed something called a meta-study. A meta-study involves looking at lots of different studies on the same topic and comparing the results from all the studies.

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