Environmental Disturbances Decrease the Variability of Microbial Populations within Periphyton

847 views · Published 13 June 2016 · 1:52 · Indexed 31 October 2026

Channel: ASM - Microbes Make Our World · 2016 · Science & Technology

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A central pursuit of microbial ecology is to accurately model changes in microbial community composition in response to environmental factors. This goal requires a thorough understanding of the drivers of variability in microbial populations. However, most microbial ecology studies focus on the effects of environmental factors on mean population abundances, rather than on population variability.

In this study, we hypothesized that environmental stress acts as a deterministic force that shapes microbial community composition. Other studies have investigated if disturbances can alter microbial community composition, but relatively few studies ask about the repeatability of the effects of disturbances. Mechanistic models implicitly assume that communities show consistent responses to stressors; here, we define and quantify microbial variability to test this assumption.

Environmental Disturbances Decrease the Variability of Microbial Populations within Periphyton

Cristina M. Herren, Kyle C. Webert, Katherine D. McMahon

Angela D. Kent, Editor

Published in mSystems on 17 May 2016
Direct link: https://doi.org/10.1128/msystems.00013-16

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