Hosts as Ecosystems: Processes That Shape Microbiomes

Dear Colleagues,

Microbes colonize every environment and play key roles as engines powering Earth ecosystem processes. This also applies to host ecosystems, where organisms form a distinct habitat for microbial communities—the microbiome. The microbiome mainly consists of bacteria but also includes fungi, protozoa, archaea, and viruses. Any ecosystem is defined as an assemblage of organisms and its biotic and abiotic environments. Interactions between different species can happen directly or indirectly and depend on shared resources or environments. Host ecosystem functions, such as stability and invasibility, depend on the interactions between the inhabiting microbial species and on the diversity/structure of the ecosystem. Trying to define the general principles of host–microbiome ecosystems will allow us to develop appraoches to change and control microbiomes, e.g. in human disease, and guide the directions of future research.

Topics of this issue can focus on: (1) population and community dynamics across time and space in host-associated microbiomes; (2) the structure of interactions within microbial communities; (3) microbiome-based metabolites and their role in structuring microbial communities; (4) microbial traits and niches; (5) functional redundancy in microbiomes; and (6) experimental and systems biology approaches in microbiome research.

This Special Issue welcomes submissions of both original research and review articles that will demonstrate multidisciplinary approaches for understanding the ecology and evolution of host-associated microbiota.

Dr. Peter Deines
Guest Editor

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