Disruption of cross-feeding interactions by invading taxa can cause invasional meltdown in microbial communities.

ABSTRACT: The strength of biotic interactions within an ecological community affects the susceptibility of the community to invasion by introduced taxa. In microbial communities, cross-feeding is a widespread type of biotic interaction that has the potential to affect community assembly and stability. Yet, there is little understanding of how the presence of cross-feeding within a community affects invasion risk. Here, I develop a metabolite-explicit model where native microbial taxa interact through both cross-feeding and competition for metabolites. I use this model to study how the strength of biotic interactions, especially cross-feeding, influence whether an introduced taxon can join the community. I found that stronger cross-feeding and competition led to much lower invasion risk, as both type

SUBMITTER: Herren CM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7287355 | biostudies-literature | 2020 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature