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ECO-EVOLUTIONARY DYNAMICS

Ecological recipes for selecting community function

Nature Ecology & Evolution volume 5, pages 894–895 (2021)Cite this article

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Simulations of eco-evolutionary processes involved in artificial selection of microbial communities provide a guide to optimize experimental design for improving ecosystem functions.

Microbial communities are increasingly seen as generalized forms of organisms1,2. In analogy3, their function (phenotype) results from the interaction of a multitude of ‘species’ (genes), whose abundances (levels of expression) feed back on themselves. This consideration of an overall community phenotype has led to the idea that selection can be applied at the community level to optimize functions; for example, biomass production or the ability to consume or produce specific molecules. Community selection is possible when the community is spatially compartmentalized and a community genealogy is established4. However, it is unclear to what extent different options for experimental layout affect the capacity of those communities to respond to selection.

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Fig. 1: Schematic representation of ecology in an experiment of microbial community selection.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut de Biologie de l’École Normale Supérieure, École Normale Supérieure, CNRS, INSERM, PSL Research University, Paris, France

    Silvia De Monte

  2. Department of Evolutionary Theory, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology, Plőn, Germany

    Silvia De Monte

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  1. Silvia De Monte
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Correspondence to Silvia De Monte.

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The author declares no competing interests.

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De Monte, S. Ecological recipes for selecting community function. Nat Ecol Evol 5, 894–895 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-021-01467-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-021-01467-3

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