Department of Ecology, School of Biology/Chemistry, Osnabrück University, Osnabrück, Germany.
Ecol Lett. 2022 Jun;25(6):1410-1420. doi: 10.1111/ele.14006. Epub 2022 Apr 5.
Microorganisms mainly exist within complex networks of ecological interactions. Given that the growth and survival of community members frequently depend on an obligate exchange of essential metabolites, it is generally unclear how such communities can persist despite the destabilising force of ecological disturbance. Here we address this issue using a population dynamics model. In contrast to previous work that suggests the potential for obligate interaction networks to emerge is limited, we find the opposite pattern: ecological disturbance favours both specific network topologies and cooperative cross-feeding among community members. These results establish environmental perturbations as a key driver shaping the architecture of microbial interaction networks.
微生物主要存在于复杂的生态相互作用网络中。鉴于社区成员的生长和生存经常依赖于必需代谢物的强制性交换，通常不清楚这样的社区如何能够在生态干扰的破坏力量下持续存在。在这里，我们使用种群动态模型来解决这个问题。与之前的研究表明必需相互作用网络的出现潜力有限的观点相反，我们发现了相反的模式：生态干扰有利于特定的网络拓扑结构和社区成员之间的合作交叉喂养。这些结果确立了环境干扰作为塑造微生物相互作用网络结构的关键驱动因素。
