Microbial Succession
Microbial Succession - Related Videos
02:17
Ecological Succession
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2026
Ecological succession is influenced by the processes of facilitation, inhibition, and toleration. Facilitation occurs when early successional species create more favorable ecological conditions for subsequent species, such as enhanced nutrient, water, or light availability. In contrast, inhibition happens when early successional species create unfavorable ecological conditions for potential successive species, such as limiting resource availability. In some cases, later successional species...
05:05
The Successive Alleys Test of Anxiety in Mice and Rats
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Cited by 49 •
2013
The plus-maze measures anxiety-like behaviour in rodents. There are two opposite closed and two opposite open arms; anxious rodents avoid the open arms. The central area is neither completely open nor closed, so time spent here is ambiguous and difficult to interpret. Here a modification of the plus-maze protocol eliminating this area is described.
21:02
Investigating the Microbial Community in the Termite Hindgut - Interview
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2007
Jared Leadbetter explains why the termite-gut microbial community is an excellent system for studying the complex interactions between microbes. The symbiotic relationship existing between the host insect and lignocellulose-degrading gut microbes is explained, as well as the industrial uses of these microbes for degrading plant biomass and generating biofuels.
14:42
Biology of Microbial Communities - Interview
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Cited by 3 •
2007
FAQs
Early colonizers can act as environmental engineers within a microbial community. By consuming resources or releasing metabolites, they alter nutrient availability, pH, and oxygen levels. Those changes affect which organisms can survive and grow, so later arrivals are filtered by their tolerances and metabolic capabilities. Succession therefore reflects both biological activity and changing environmental conditions.
Competition and cooperation produce different succession outcomes. Microorganisms may compete for limited resources, slowing or preventing establishment of other populations, while cooperative interactions can make resources or conditions more suitable for partners. Tracking both interactions is important because community development is not explained by environmental change alone; relationships among organisms also influence composition and activity over time.
Shifts in pH, oxygen, and nutrient availability can favor microorganisms with matching tolerances or metabolic capabilities. Secreted metabolites add another layer by changing the local conditions available to neighboring organisms. As these variables move, community activity and membership may shift together, making environmental measurements important for interpreting why one succession stage gives way to another.
Biologists can examine succession by following microbial community composition and activity as conditions change over time, while relating those changes to nutrient availability, pH, oxygen, and secreted metabolites. Comparing stages across soils, aquatic environments, decomposing material, or host-associated communities reveals which environmental shifts accompany community turnover and helps connect microbial changes with ecosystem or host outcomes.
Changes in community composition and activity can indicate how microorganisms contribute to ecosystem function and nutrient cycling. In decomposing material and soils, succession provides a framework for relating changing microbial populations to environmental transformations. It also helps biologists interpret community development after disturbance, connecting microbial changes through time with broader questions about how environments function.
Microbial succession is relevant wherever communities change in response to shifting conditions. In host-associated communities, it can help frame disease progression; in agriculture, it can inform study of soil communities; and in environmental restoration, it supports analysis of recovery after disturbance. Biotechnology can also draw on succession-related knowledge to understand changing microbial activities in applied settings.