Stochastic forces in microbial community assembly: Founding community size governs divergent ecological trajectories
Stochastic processes in microbial community assembly (e.g., ecological drift, variation, and dispersal) are important to consider when assessing the reproducibility of microbial community transitions. The strength of these stochastic processes may depend on the initial community cell density. In this project, two types of initial communities are each diluted to four different initial densities (2 Ã? 4 = 8 inocula), and many replicate communities are established from each inoculum. Divergent trajectory patterns observed in the resulting communities are then analyzed using two quantitative methods to evaluate variance among replicates. By examining the relationship between the strength of stochastic processes and the observed variance, we quantitatively evaluate the reproducibility of microbial community transitions and provide insights into how community transitions might be manipulated.