Microbial Community Resilience across Ecosystems and Multiple Disturbances

The ability of ecosystems to withstand disturbances and maintain their functions is being increasingly tested as rates of change intensify due to climate change and other human activities. Microorganisms are crucial players underpinning ecosystem functions, and the recovery of microbial communities...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Microbiology and molecular biology reviews 2021-05, Vol.85 (2)
Main Authors: Philippot, Laurent, Griffiths, Bryan S, Langenheder, Silke
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
aquatic
Aquatic ecosystems
Biodiversity
Climate Change
compounded
disturbance
Disturbances
Ecosystem
Ecosystem recovery
Ecosystems
Environmental changes
Environmental Sciences
Humans
Microbial activity
microbial communities
Microbiomes
Microbiota - physiology
Microorganisms
Recovery time
Resilience
Review
Soil
Soil Microbiology
terrestrial
Terrestrial ecosystems
Terrestrial environments
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Summary:The ability of ecosystems to withstand disturbances and maintain their functions is being increasingly tested as rates of change intensify due to climate change and other human activities. Microorganisms are crucial players underpinning ecosystem functions, and the recovery of microbial communities from disturbances is therefore a key part of the complex processes determining the fate of ecosystem functioning. However, despite global environmental change consisting of numerous pressures, it is unclear and controversial how multiple disturbances affect microbial community stability and what consequences this has for ecosystem functions. This is particularly the case for those multiple or compounded disturbances that occur more frequently than the normal recovery time. The aim of this review is to provide an overview of the mechanisms that can govern the responses of microbes to multiple disturbances across aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. We first summarize and discuss properties and mechanisms that influence resilience in aquatic and soil biomes to determine whether there are generally applicable principles. Following, we focus on interactions resulting from inherent characteristics of compounded disturbances, such as the nature of the disturbance, timing, and chronology that can lead to complex and nonadditive effects that are modulating the response of microorganisms.
ISSN:1092-2172
1098-5557
1098-5557
DOI:10.1128/MMBR.00026-20