Abstract

The human-microbial ecosystem plays a variety of important roles in human health and disease. Each person can be viewed as an island-like "patch" of habitat occupied by microbial assemblages formed by the fundamental processes of community ecology: dispersal, local diversification, environmental selection, and ecological drift. Community assembly theory, and metacommunity theory in particular, provides a framework for understanding the ecological dynamics of the human microbiome, such as compositional variability within and between hosts. We explore three core scenarios of human microbiome assembly: development in infants, representing assembly in previously unoccupied habitats; recovery from antibiotics, representing assembly after disturbance; and invasion by pathogens, representing assembly in the context of invasive species. Judicious application of ecological theory may lead to improved strategies for restoring and maintaining the microbiota and the crucial health-associated ecosystem services that it provides.

Links

Publisher Full Text

Authors

Costello EK, Stagaman K, Dethlefsen L, Bohannan BJ, Relman DA

Institution

Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.

Source

Science (New York, N.Y.) 336:6086 2012 Jun 8 pg 1255-62

MeSH

Animals
Anti-Bacterial Agents
Bacterial Infections
Biodiversity
Ecology
Ecosystem
Gastrointestinal Tract
Host-Pathogen Interactions
Humans
Infant, Newborn
Metagenome
Selection, Genetic
Symbiosis

Pub Type(s)

Journal Article
Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Review

Language

eng

PubMed ID

22674335