Challenges in microbial ecology: building predictive understanding of community function and dynamics
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Cordero_Challenges in microbial.pdf
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1.95 MB
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Adobe PDF
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Author(s)
Widder, Stefanie
Allen, Rosalind J
Pfeiffer, Thomas
Curtis, Thomas P
Wiuf, Carsten
Sloan, William T
Cordero, Otto X
Brown, Sam P
Momeni, Babak
Shou, Wenying
Date Issued
March 2016
Journal
The ISME Journal
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
Citation
Widder, Stefanie; Allen, Rosalind J; Pfeiffer, Thomas; Curtis, Thomas P; Wiuf, Carsten; Sloan, William T; Cordero, Otto X et al. “Challenges in Microbial Ecology: Building Predictive Understanding of Community Function and Dynamics.” The ISME Journal 10, 11 (March 2016): 2557–2568 © 2016 International Society for Microbial Ecology
Version
Final published version
Abstract
The importance of microbial communities (MCs) cannot be overstated. MCs underpin the biogeochemical cycles of the earth’s soil, oceans and the atmosphere, and perform ecosystem functions that impact plants, animals and humans. Yet our ability to predict and manage the function of these highly complex, dynamically changing communities is limited. Building predictive models that link MC composition to function is a key emerging challenge in microbial ecology. Here, we argue that addressing this challenge requires close coordination of experimental data collection and method development with mathematical model building. We discuss specific examples where model–experiment integration has already resulted in important insights into MC function and structure. We also highlight key research questions that still demand better integration of experiments and models. We argue that such integration is needed to achieve significant progress in our understanding of MC dynamics and function, and we make specific practical suggestions as to how this could be achieved.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1038/ismej.2016.45
