ReviewmBio2018
Drivers of Microbiome Biodiversity: A Review of General Rules, Feces, and Ignorance.
Review in mBio, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 171 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
171 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Differences in Alpha Diversity of Gut Microbiota in Neurological Diseases.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2022Pooled it
- A Randomized Controlled Trial of Dietary Rice Bran Intake on Microbiota Diversity, Enteric Dysfunction, and Fecal Secretory IgA in Malian and Nicaraguan Infants.The Journal of nutrition · 2022Trial
- Intestinal microbiome analysis demonstrates azithromycin post-treatment effects improve when combined with lactulose.World journal of pediatrics : WJP · 2020Trial
- Trial
- Article
- Integrating haplotype-enhanced HIV surveillance with national databases improves the resolution of transmission networks, drug resistance, and risk assessment.Emerging microbes & infections · 2026Article
- Host phylogeny and microbiome composition predict gut nematode community composition within a diverse assemblage of African herbivores.Biology letters · 2026Article
- Article
- Microbiome and resistome of the European bison (Bison bonasus).Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Dietary 4-Hydroxy-2,5-Dimethyl-3(2H)-Furanone Supplementation in Hu Sheep: Implications on Fecal and Rumen Microbiota.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2026Article
- Social organization and habitat use shape the gut microbiome of a marine fish.The Journal of animal ecology · 2026Article
- Consistent, Scale-Dependent Differences in the Biogeography of Host-Associated and Free-Living Microbiomes Across Systems.Molecular ecology · 2026Article
- Phenological Changes in the Fecal Microbiota ofAnimals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2026Article
- The elephant (bird) in the room: unknown mechanisms and unresolved impacts of low DNA yields in avian microbiome research.Animal microbiome · 2026Article
- Phylosymbiosis and Parallel Geographical Patterns in the Gut Microbiota of Desert-Dwelling Amphibians and Reptiles.Integrative zoology · 2026Article
- Effects of heat-assisted sample desiccation on microbiome surveys.Environmental microbiome · 2026Article
- Maintenance of Gut Microbial Balance via the Kynurenine Pathway Improves Larval Performance and Resistance to Bacillus thuringiensis in Spodoptera exigua.MicrobiologyOpen · 2026Article
- Characterising the gut microbiome of six Australian marsupials reveals captivity constrains microbiome.Animal microbiome · 2026Article
- Environmental Quality Assessment Using Fecal Metabolomics in Waterfowl from Protected Wetlands in Southwest Spain.ACS ES&T water · 2026Article
- Evidences That Host Genetic Background More Than the Environment Shapes the Microbiota of the Snail Bulinus truncatus, an Intermediate Host of Schistosoma Species.Molecular ecology · 2026Article
111 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The alpha diversity of ecologic communities is affected by many biotic and abiotic drivers and, in turn, affects ecosystem functioning. Yet, patterns of alpha diversity in host-associated microbial communities (microbiomes) are poorly studied and the appropriateness of general theory is untested. Expanding diversity theory to include microbiomes is essential as diversity is a frequently cited metric of their status. Here, we review and newly analyze reports of alpha diversity for animal gut microbiomes. We demonstrate that both diet and body size affect diversity in the gut but that gut physiology (fermenter versus simple) is the most important driver. We also assess the advantages of various diversity metrics. The importance of diversity in microbiomes is often assumed but has not been tested outright. Therefore, we close by discussing how to integrate microbiomes into the field of biodiversity-ecosystem functioning to more clearly understand when and why a host supports diverse microbial communities.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.