Functional Redundancy of Soil Microbiota – Does More Always Mean Better?

Abstract

Abstract. The proper and healthy functioning of the soil depends largely on the microorganisms abundance, including the total number of bacteria and fungi, but also their diversity. The increase in the biodiversity also increases the functional capabilities of the ecosystem but from a certain point, a further increase in the biodiversity does not bring any new features, so the general biochemical and metabolic profile of the ecosystem remains constant. It is also suggested that the loss of one or more species does not dramatically affect the functioning of the ecosystem, because the same functions can be represented by many different species. This phenomenon is called a functional redundancy and makes the soil a very stable environment with a high buffering capabilities, more often called the "soil memory". On the other hand, some unique biochemical processes are characteristic for a small group of species, for example, nitrogen fixation or toxic compounds degradation. The loss of the specialized species may lead to the decrease of a rare genes occurrence in the soil, resulting in the loss of nutrients or the accumulation of toxins.This article presents the current findings on functional redundancy in terms of soil microorganisms and its implications to the soil functioning.

Deciphering functional redundancy in the human microbiome

“…This could potentially inform other microbiomebased therapies such as probiotic administration, if FR can indeed serve as a residence indicator of the human microbiome in response to general perturbations. FR has been found in many other microbial systems as well, e.g., in plant 46,47 , ocean 48 , and soil 49,50 microbiomes. Our general, quantitative measure of FR can also be directly applied to those microbial systems and hence facilitate a direct test of the hypothesis that there are systematic differences in FR between free-living and host-associated microbial communities 51 .…”

Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in the Era of the Human Microbiome: Persistent Pathogens Drive Chronic Symptoms by Interfering With Host Metabolism, Gene Expression, and Immunity

“…While it is important to pursue identification of novel organisms in ME/CFS blood and tissue, ample data already exists on better-studied components of the microbiome. Microbial and viral survival strategies, virulence mechanisms and collective behaviors are also characterized by a high degree of functional redundancy (60, 61). We must accept the complexity inherent to the human microbiome and further study these common mechanisms of survival and persistence.…”

Community-Level Physiological Profiles of Microorganisms from Different Types of Soil That Are Characteristic to Poland—A Long-Term Microplot Experiment

“…This method allowed to monitor the overall physiological state of the soils, showing that over time, all soils maintained almost identical levels of microbiological activity. Although the composition of microorganisms, according to many literature reports, changes over time, the overall activity remains almost unchanged, due to the phenomenon of functional redundancy [37].…”