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Review
. 2024 Jan 8;18(1):wrae179.
doi: 10.1093/ismejo/wrae179.

Drivers and consequences of microbial community coalescence

Xipeng Liu  1   2 , Joana Falcão Salles  1
Affiliations
Review

Drivers and consequences of microbial community coalescence

Xipeng Liu et al. ISME J. .

Abstract

Microbial communities are undergoing unprecedented dispersion and amalgamation across diverse ecosystems, thereby exerting profound and pervasive influences on microbial assemblages and ecosystem dynamics. This review delves into the phenomenon of community coalescence, offering an ecological overview that outlines its four-step process and elucidates the intrinsic interconnections in the context of community assembly. We examine pivotal mechanisms driving community coalescence, with a particular emphasis on elucidating the fates of both source and resident microbial communities and the consequential impacts on the ecosystem. Finally, we proffer recommendations to guide researchers in this rapidly evolving domain, facilitating deeper insights into the ecological ramifications of microbial community coalescence.

Keywords: community stability; dispersal; disturbance; interspecies interaction; invasion; microbial community dynamic; microbial inoculation.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Examples of community coalescence in ecosystems (A–E) and the growing scientific interest in microbial artificial consortia in soils (F). Examples of microbiomes coalescence in different contexts: (A) aquatic systems [10,14–16], (B) atmospheric deposition [17–19], (C) animal guts [20–23], (D) phyllosphere and root systems [19,24], and (E) deliberate inoculations [25–27]. (F) Research on microbial consortium inoculation in soil systems has exponentially increased recently. “All” represents the total number of articles involving microbial consortia in soil, whereas “bacteria+” indicates those that specifically used bacteria as the consortium. The TreeMap shows the distribution pattern of the scientific research areas for these studies according to records from the web of science. We searched the web of science Core collection database using the search terms topic: (soil AND (microbial OR bacterial) AND (consortia OR consortium OR communit*) AND (inocula*)). All research articles published between 2012 and 2023 were included, resulting in 3011 papers. We then screened titles, abstracts, and full texts for performing the selection, excluding studies out of our scope, which returned a total of 866 studies. The research area for each study was recorded based on the information provided in the web of science database with the primary research field listed first in cases where multiple research fields were associated with a study.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Process and patterns of bacterial community coalescence. (A) Four-step process of bacterial community coalescence. The coalescence starts with introducing a source (circular bacteria) community into a resident one (rod-shaped bacteria). During this phase, the introduced invaders interact with both residents and the environment. These interactions lead to complex dynamics and turbulence within the resident community, where mutual suppression between residents and invaders is likely to occur. The mixing and turbulence can occur quickly, potentially within hours or days [11,31,53]. The final step, termed “coexistence,” takes a relatively long time, likely tens of days, and involves the re-establishment of new interactions and rules within the coalesced community between survived invaders and residents and between survived resident taxa. (B–D) the shift patterns of diversity, composition, and assembly process (illustrated as the stochasticity governing the community assemblage) of the mixed community over time are shown. Dash lines indicate other potential patterns. Remarkable fluctuations in alpha and beta diversities may be detected in the mixing and turbulence stages [31,54]. The outcomes for bacterial diversity and composition during the coexistence period can vary, depending on the invaders’ survival and the suppression of residents [31,53,54]. The changes in stochasticity of coalesced communities may differ, influenced by the mixing of abiotic factors and the original status of both source and resident communities.
Figure 3
Figure 3
A conceptual overview of mechanisms regulating community coalescences. This model summarizes the mechanisms of bacterial community coalescences from (A) the invaders’ perspective and (B) the resident community’s perspective. Niche competition is considered the primary mechanism governing the survival of each invader [31], which might be interpreted by the phylogenetic distance between each invader and the resident community [78,79]. In both panels, the X axis represents niche competition, describing the theoretical competition between an invader and the resident community. The Y axis in the first panel indicates the theoretical probability of each invader surviving or becoming extinct after coalescence, whereas in the second panel, it represents the coalescence impact, such as compositional and functional shifts. The dashed and non-dashed circles indicate the theoretical and realistic statuses of outcomes, with numbers adjacent to arrows indicating different mechanisms governing coalescence outcomes. (C) Abiotic factors, higher-order interactions, and inter-kingdom interactions further modulate the mechanistic model.
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