The causes and consequences of microbial community structure

• Main Author: Ashley Shade (auth)
• Other Authors: Cyrille Violle (auth), Diana Reid Nemergut (auth)
• Format: Electronic Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Frontiers Media SA 2015
• Series: Frontiers Research Topics
• Subjects: Microbiology (non-medical); species-species interactions; Trait-based approahes; ecological trade-offs; microbial community assembly; Biodiversity-ecosystem function; Structure-function; trait distributions
• Online Access: DOAB: download the publication; DOAB: description of the publication

The causes and consequences of differences in microbial community structure, defined here as the relative proportions of rare and abundant organisms within a community, are poorly understood. Articles in "The Causes and Consequences of Microbial Community Structure", use empirical or modeling approaches as well as literature reviews to enrich our mechanistic understanding of the controls over the relationship between community structure and ecosystem processes. Specifically, authors address the role of trait distributions and tradeoffs, species-species interactions, evolutionary dynamics, community assembly processes and physical controls in affecting 'who's there' and 'what they are doing'.