Succession and microorganisms

[ap.vanduijn]

Dear Anastassia, dear all, 

With regards to the relationship between host and microbiome I’ve been taking a closer look at through which glasses to view this relationship. The dominant point of view is based on Pasteur’s Germ theory, which is greatly influenced by Darwin’s Evolutionary theory. However, this is not the only point of view as there is also the much less dominant Bechamp’s Terrain theory, which in many ways seems to make more sense to me. The particular reason for looking at this was to try and understand how since we left our “paradise niche” our changing external environment (incl. a change in diet, temperature, humidity, sunlight, etc.) has affected humans as an ecological community (host plus microbiome). This will certainly have impacted humans as an ecological community (incl. changes in the structure of our microbiome) in an attempt to regulate our inner environment. Subsequently it got me thinking about how this applies to the succession process when forests have been perturbed. G&M point out that the succession process brings about significant changes in various parameters of the environment including changes in the light, moisture, pH and temperature regimes and concentrations of biogens (G&M, 2000; p.14-15 and p.178-188). If I remember correctly G&M also point out that when environmental parameters change this affects the structure of the ecological community. However, where (during the process of succession) do these immotile microorganisms come from? I assume that depending on the nature of the perturbation they may or may not be present in the soil after the perturbation seizes. So what happens with regards to the microbiome during the process of succession? What happens to the soil microbiome when environmental parameters and biogens are changed (especially when not all required microorganisms are present)? There seems to be increased interest in the process of pleomorphism (part of the Terrain theory) and more recently neo-pleomorphism. Both focus on unstable communities where microzymas that are present in the air after landing on a suitable medium become bacteria that can change into yeast, yeast to fungus, fungus to mold, I don’t know exactly what to make of this as this is not my field of expertise. Do new microorganisms actually come from the air microbiome? However, this component of Bechamp’s Terrain theory does provide me with a different perspective on the process of forest succession. As a consequence I now view this as a recovery process where during the first 30 years of the succession process the terrain is slowly transformed to present a suitable medium not only for the eventual host of the ecological community (i.e. the tree), but also to attract specific microorganisms that can tightly correlate with the host to regulate the local environment after the majority of the community characteristics have recovered after ~150 years. If for a second I stop to think about it, it seems that  from the perspective of restoration ecology (i.e. humans as active agents of restoration), it seems an impossible task to determine (let alone actively recreate) what environmental parameters are required for host and microbiome to function as a correlated ecological community to regulate the local environment. This makes me question any kind of ecological restoration that is not allowed to naturally occur. I would love to hear your thoughts on this?

Best regards,

Arie

[Anastassia Makarieva]

Dear Arie

My view: All necessary microorganisms remain present in the forest at all times, during all succession stages. What changes is their population numbers and levels of metabolic activity. Bacteria, and many other organisms, can exist in dormant state for centuries if they completely switch their metabolic rate (see here our paper on minimal metabolic levels ). Tiny microorganisms can change their population densities within broad limits, by many orders of magnitude, something that for bigger organisms would correspond to an extinction.

Also in another thread we discussed with Mats this ubiquity of microorganisms, see https://groups.google.com/g/biotic-regulation/search?q=ubiquity

Best wishes,

Anastassia

чт, 26 нояб. 2020 г. в 17:37, ap.vanduijn <ap.va...@gmail.com>:

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[Arie Pieter van Duijn]

Dear Anastassia,

Thank you for sharing your perspective. I'm reading through the other thread you referred to and I plan to join a small part of that discussion later.

I noticed that one question has remained unanswered and the question is still bothering me somewhere in the back of my mind. I have slightly rephrased this question based on new insights, nevertheless the gist of the question remains the same. As I mentioned before, when taking a close look at table 6.4 (BRE, 2000; p. 191) I view succession as a recovery process where during the first 30 years of the succession process the terrain is slowly transformed (by pioneer species and microorganisms) to create a suitable medium for the climax host of the ecological community (i.e. the tree) as well as a particular composition of microorganisms that can tightly correlate with the host to regulate the local environment after the majority of the community characteristics have recovered after ~150 years. Now this process seems too complicated to artificially recreate. Therefore it seems like an impossible task to determine (let alone artificially create) what environmental parameters are required for host and microbiome to function as a correlated ecological community to regulate the local environment. This makes me question any kind of ecological restoration that does not occur naturally. Or do you see any options for intervening in and speeding up the succession process?

Best regards,

Arie

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/biotic-regulation/CAKz3-99%3DxPKYqES-ViAvhNq0us5_%3D%2BAFWCMXQSS6ptUC_5MMbA%40mail.gmail.com.

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Arie Pieter
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"Ambulator nascitur, non fit" (Thoreau 1854)