Community Assembly, Succession, Functional Diversity, and Evolution of Aquatic Invertebrate Microbiomes

Dear Colleagues,

Aquatic invertebrates have complex microbiomes that mediate critical ecological and evolutionary processes. From shaping the metabolism and immunity of hosts to driving nutrient cycling and improving water quality, these microbial communities can influence the dynamics of entire ecosystems. Given these significant impacts, the mechanisms that govern how microbial partners assemble and persist within aquatic invertebrates, such as environmental filtering, host control, and historical contingency, warrant further investigation. This Special Issue of Diversity will gather perspectives from ecology, evolution, and functional biology to address how aquatic invertebrate microbiomes assemble, diversify, and coevolve across diverse environmental and phylogenetic contexts.

We invite submissions that explore the assembly and succession of microbial communities associated with marine and freshwater invertebrates. A broad range of systems and approaches are encouraged. Topics of interest include the assembly and succession of aquatic invertebrate microbiomes, links between host identity and spatial connectivity, metacommunity or functional diversity frameworks, and the evolutionary dynamics of diversification, cospeciation, and host switching in symbiotic systems.

This cross-disciplinary Special Issue will advance our efforts to describe the general principles governing microbiome assembly and evolution in aquatic invertebrate hosts. Understanding these principles will inform predictive models of microbiome structure and function, characterize the evolutionary drivers of these communities, and further clarify how microbial partners contribute to host resilience and ecosystem function. Collectively, these contributions will contribute to an integrative framework linking ecological assembly processes with evolutionary diversification in aquatic microbiomes.

Dr. Kent A. Hatch
Guest Editor

Dr. Nathaniel Curtis
Dr. José Moscoso Nunez
Guest Editor Assistants

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Diversity is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2100 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.