Sparse species interactions reproduce abundance correlations patterns in microbial communities

Microbes -- the most abundant organisms on Earth -- form complex communities with a profound influence on many problems, from human health to ecosystem management. Understanding species interactions is of paramount importance in many different contexts, e.g., in medical applications. However, current models of microbial communities have not adequately captured the essential role of interactions. Here, we present population models implementing species interactions. These enable us to replicate macroecological patterns of species correlations not captured by existing models. These findings robustly support the importance of species interaction networks, highlighting their inherent sparsity as a distinctive structural property. This characteristic is associated with the prevalence of amensalistic and commensalistic relationships within the community.

Sparse species interactions reproduce abundance correlations patterns in microbial communities Articles