Advances in next-generation sequencing have enabled the widespread measurement of
microbiome composition across systems and over the course of microbiome assembly …

Rare species are increasingly recognized as crucial, yet vulnerable components of Earth's
ecosystems. This is also true for microbial communities, which are typically composed of a …

There is growing concern over tip** points arising in ecosystems because of the crossing
of environmental thresholds. Tip** points lead to abrupt and possibly irreversible shifts …

Recently, microbiologists have established the existence of biogeographic patterns among a
wide range of microorganisms. The focus of the field is now shifting to identifying the …

Metacommunity theory has advanced understanding of how spatial dynamics and local
interactions shape community structure and biodiversity. Here, we review empirical …

For more than 30 years, the relationship between net primary productivity and species
richness has generated intense debate in ecology about the processes regulating local …

Humans and many other hosts establish a diverse community of beneficial microbes anew
each generation. The order and identity of incoming symbionts is critical for health, but what …

Community ecology: the study of the patterns and processes involving two or more species-
has developed rapidly in the last two decades, driven by new and more sophisticated …

Bacteria and fungi are important mediators of biogeochemical processes and play essential
roles in the establishment of plant communities, which makes knowledge about their …

Ecology Letters (2009) 12: 1405–1419 Abstract The global decline of biodiversity caused by
human domination of ecosystems worldwide is supposed to alter important process rates …