The DNA sequencing revolution of the last twenty years has granted ecologists unprecedented access to the composition of naturally-occurring microbial communities from a wide range of ecosystems. These data offer considerable potential for a deeper understanding of the structure, ecological role and dynamics of microbial communities, and of their drivers at different spatial and temporal scales. We will build statistical models based on ecological mechanisms that will allow interpreting microbial composition data in terms of the fundamental ecological mechanisms of selection, drift, dispersal and speciation. By applying these models to large datasets from the human gut microbiome, the gut microbiome of a wild passerine bird, and microbial plankton in the open ocean, we will provide a unifying perspective on microbial ecology with important implications for human health, the resilience of biodiversity to climate change, and the ocean food chain and carbon cycle.

2021

2024