A framework for integrating microbial dispersal modes into soil ecosystem ecology

Summary Dispersal is a fundamental community assembly process that maintains soil microbial biodiversity across spatial and temporal scales, yet the impact of dispersal on ecosystem function is largely unpredictable. Dispersal is unique in that it contributes to both ecological and evolutionary processes and is shaped by both deterministic and stochastic forces. The ecosystem-level ramifications of dispersal outcomes are further compounded by microbial dormancy dynamics and environmental selection. Here we review the knowledge gaps and challenges that remain in defining how dispersal, environmental filtering, and microbial dormancy interact to influence the relationship between microbial community structure and function in soils. We propose the classification of microbial dispersal into three categories, through vegetative or active cells, through dormant cells, and through acellular dispersal, each with unique spatiotemporal dynamics and microbial trait associations. This conceptual framework should improve the integration of dispersal in defining soil microbial community structure-function relationships.

• Publication year

  2022

• Venue

  iScience

• Publication date

  2022-02-01

• Fields of study

  Biology, Medicine, Environmental Science

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1016/j.isci.2022.103887PMID 35243247PMCID 8866892
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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