Soil bacteria are critical for sustaining ecosystem functions and services. Recent studies show that soil bacterial communities are susceptible to climate change, particularly to extreme climatic events. Yet, we know little about the biotic mechanisms through which extreme climatic events, such as heat waves, restructure soil bacterial communities. Previous studies indicate that slower growing...
Glacial retreats represent a unique opportunity to study primary successional processes. The new exposed rock is a new material for the assembly of a new ecosystem. Soil formation after glacial retreat is strongly influenced by plant colonization, but this colonization depends on nutrient availability. An ongoing project in the forefront of the last Venezuelan glacier has established a...
Plants are associated with a diverse microbiome consisting of bacteria, fungi, and protists that play a crucial role in establishing a stable microbial community that contributes to the health of their host under atypical environmental stresses. Although these microbial communities are co-evolved with plants in either beneficial, commensal, or pathogenic lifestyles, how each member cooperates...
Multilevel selection in host-associated microbiomes has important implications for understanding the origin and evolution of these complex associations. To date, we do not have a clear understanding of the different levels that can affect selection on microbial communities. There is evidence that the higher level of selection provided to the microbiome by the host has a significant impact on...
The gut microbiota is now well established as a mediator of human health and disease with a central role in a myriad of host functions beyond digestion, including immune modulation, metabolic regulation and neurological signalling. Compositional changes in these bacterial communities have been causally linked to a multitude of diseases including obesity, inflammatory bowel disease, cancer,...
The microbial ecosystem is full of narrow constrictions that microorganisms need to learn to navigate in order to survive. Here, we study a Nature example of a "microorganism billiard": a system composed of a population of microorganisms packed in a closed space, with only a few narrow apertures to escape from. This situation occurs when the marine parasite Parvilucifera sinerae infects and...
