Genetic exchanges among prokaryotes, formerly considered only a marginal phenomenon,
increasingly are being viewed as profoundly affecting evolution. Indeed, some researchers …

Ancestor microbes started colonizing inland habitats approximately 2.7 to 3.5 billion years
ago. With some exceptions, the key physiological adaptations of microbiomes associated …

Successive range expansions occur within all domains of life, where one population
expands first (primary expansion) and one or more secondary populations then follow …

Using multiple lines of evidence from denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis,
environmental sequences and TaqMan quantitative PCR assays targeting a functional gene …

Whatever their size and the ecosystem they live in, all organisms may disperse at some
stage of their life cycle. Dispersal dynamics are to a varying extent dependent on organismal …

A complex microbial system consisting of six different interconnected localities was
thoroughly investigated at full scale for over a year. The metacommunity concept originating …

The movement of organisms across habitat boundaries has important consequences for
populations, communities, and ecosystems. However, because most species are not well …

What are species? How do they arise? These questions are not easy to answer and have
been particularly controversial in microbiology. Yet, for those microbiologists studying …

Ecological mechanisms influence relationships among microbial communities, which in turn
impact biogeochemistry. In particular, microbial communities are assembled by deterministic …

The classical view states that microbial biogeography is not affected by dispersal barriers or
historical events, but only influenced by the local contemporary habitat conditions (species …