BACKGROUND Increasingly, it is recognized that the microbes resident in the
gastrointestinal tract can influence brain physiology and behavior. Research has shown that …

The alpha diversity of ecologic communities is affected by many biotic and abiotic drivers
and, in turn, affects ecosystem functioning. Yet, patterns of alpha diversity in host-associated …

Microorganisms can be found almost anywhere, including in and on the human body. The
collection of microorganisms associated with a certain location is called a microbiota, with its …

The mammalian gastrointestinal (GI) tract is home to trillions of bacteria that play a
substantial role in host metabolism and immunity. While progress has been made in …

Background Various aspects of sociality can benefit individuals' health. The host social
environment and its relative contributions to the host-microbiome relationship have emerged …

Ecologists have long studied primary succession, the changes that occur in biological
communities after initial colonization of an environment. Most of this work has focused on …

Microbiologists often evaluate microbial community dynamics by formulating functional
hypotheses based on ecological processes. Indeed, many of the methods and terms …

If gut microbes influence host behavioral ecology in the short term, over evolutionary time,
they could drive host niche differentiation. We explored this possibility by comparing the gut …

The intestinal microbiota plays a major role in host development, metabolism, and health. To
date, few longitudinal studies have investigated the causes and consequences of microbiota …

To date, most insights into the processes sha** vertebrate gut microbiomes have emerged
from studies with cross‐sectional designs. While this approach has been valuable, emerging …