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Conservation of community functional structure across changes in composition in consumer-resource models.
1Francis I. Proctor Foundation for Research in Ophthalmology, Box 0412, University of California, San Francisco, California 94143-0412, United States.
Journal of Theoretical Biology
|March 8, 2020
Summary
Microbial communities maintain consistent functional traits despite species changes. This ecological model shows functional structure tracks environmental conditions across diverse species compositions.
Area of Science:
- Ecology
- Microbial Ecology
- Theoretical Ecology
Background:
- High-throughput sequencing (metagenomics, metatranscriptomics) enables cataloging microbial functional traits and phylogenetic identity.
- Community functional traits are often more conserved across environments than species composition (taxa).
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the dynamics of resource consumption traits using an ecological resource-consumer model.
- To analyze the determinants of functional structure in microbial communities.
- To investigate how functional structure tracks environmental conditions across varying species compositions.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a standard ecological resource-consumer model.
- Analyzed community-wide abundances of ecologically relevant traits.
- Derived mathematical conditions for functional community structure conservation.
Main Results:
- Resource-consumer interactions regulate trait abundances, maintaining consistency despite environmental and species composition changes.
- Functional structure accurately reflects environmental conditions, irrespective of species differences.
- Identified necessary and sufficient mathematical conditions for functional structure conservation.
Conclusions:
- Ecological interactions can stabilize microbial community functional traits.
- Functional structure serves as a robust indicator of environmental conditions.
- Further research into the relationship between biochemical rates and functional conservation is warranted.
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