TY  - JOUR
A1  - Krause, Sascha
A1  - Le Roux, Xavier
A1  - Niklaus, Pascal A.
A1  - Van Bodegom, Peter M.
A1  - Lennon, Jay T.
A1  - Bertilsson, Stefan
A1  - Grossart, Hans-Peter
A1  - Philippot, Laurent
A1  - Bodelier, Paul L. E.
T1  - Trait-based approaches for understanding microbial biodiversity and ecosystem functioning
JF  - Frontiers in microbiology
N2  - In ecology, biodiversity-ecosystem functioning (BEE) research has seen a shift in perspective from taxonomy to function in the last two decades, with successful application of trait-based approaches. This shift offers opportunities for a deeper mechanistic understanding of the role of biodiversity in maintaining multiple ecosystem processes and services. In this paper, we highlight studies that have focused on BEE of microbial communities with an emphasis on integrating trait-based approaches to microbial ecology. In doing so, we explore some of the inherent challenges and opportunities of understanding BEE using microbial systems. For example, microbial biologists characterize communities using gene phylogenies that are often unable to resolve functional traits. Additionally, experimental designs of existing microbial BEE studies are often inadequate to unravel BEE relationships. We argue that combining eco-physiological studies with contemporary molecular tools in a trait-based framework can reinforce our ability to link microbial diversity to ecosystem processes. We conclude that such trait-based approaches are a promising framework to increase the understanding of microbial BEE relationships and thus generating systematic principles in microbial ecology and more generally ecology.
KW  - functional traits
KW  - ecosystem function
KW  - ecological theory
KW  - study designs
KW  - microbial diversity
Y1  - 2014
U6  - https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2014.00251
SN  - 1664-302X
VL  - 5
PB  - Frontiers Research Foundation
CY  - Lausanne
ER  -