- Describe in detail the tools used to link microbial phylogeny with function in the environment.
Determination of the relationship between various organisms and the environment has always been an area that has elicited debate among environmental and ecological experts. To understand the relationship of microbes to the environment functions of the taxa the microbes belong to is to be determined. The main tools used to link microbial phylogeny with function are mainly stochastic and deterministic tools which have been based on the research from plants and animals. Research on microorganisms has been scarce due to assumptions of lack of patterns and the microscopic nature of the microorganisms.
Statistical methods on advanced sequencing have helped experts discover patterns within the environment. The deterministic tool indicates that biodiversity is structured around inter taxa interaction and environmental heterogeneity. Every taxon is assumed to have unique traits which are non-overlapping. The unique traits imply that different taxon has varying impact on the environment. The special traits also lead to the taxon occupying a unique ecological niche. Due to the uniqueness of each taxon, a different taxon can exist independently due to the elimination of competition for similar resources. Inter-taxa coexistence is therefore highly successful. A log-normal distribution is followed by micro-biological abundance in the deterministic tool.
Another tool linking microbial phylogeny with a function to the environment is the neutral ecological tool. Under this tool, all microbial organisms affect the environment in the same way. The interaction between the microorganisms and other individuals in the environment are ignored. Different suggestions are employed by this tool in explaining how microbial diversities is kept under control. One of the suggestions is that microbial diversity is controlled by taxa movement across spaces. Another suggestion explains that microbial diversity is checked by the change in the distribution of taxa due to fluctuations in the demography.
The assembly of microbial communities is heavily influenced by both the stochastic and neutral tools. The relevance of microbial communities is dependent on microbial organisms’ sensitivity to changes in the environment. If the threshold that a microbe can endure is surpassed, the predominance of determinism is generated due to the prevention of dispersal of the microbes. Variations also exist in the functional traits of closely related microbes. An example of this is the photosynthesis levels of different microbes being different in the same environment yet they belong to the same taxon. Microbes that perform the same functions in the environment can only be distantly related. The distance relation brings about the principle of functional redundancy. High functional redundancy exists between microbial communities associated with plants and marine life. As the microbes and organisms continue to exist and disperse in the environment, there is a transfer of genes which is horizontal i.e among microbes of different taxa. Genetic conserved patterns are a sign of slow evolution and adaptation to the environment. Some genes are also lost during the phylogenic process.
Environmental factors which are not related to taxonomic diversity, affect the ecosystem directly. This direct impact confounds the microbial DEF relationship. An example of these factors which have been proven to affect the environment directly is the explanation of the variation of carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere based on the quantity of organic matter and its PH in water catchment areas (Orland et al, 2018). Biogeochemical reactions in the environment are based on the number of available donors for the microbes. Other stochastic processes affect the functioning and diversity of ecosystems. The DEF relationship indicates the phylogenic conservation of functional traits. The use of statistical tools in predicting relationship between microbes and the environment has led to increased use of data on microbes to determine the functioning of the environment (Graham et al. 2016). Both active and dormant members exist in the ecosystem.
