From competition to cooperation: Paradigm shifts in trait-based ecology change our understanding of the processes that structure microbial communities
Prevailing social, economic and political ideas and paradigms constitute the lens through which scientists observe, assess, and understand the world. This affects how we interpret and understand the mechanisms governing the interaction between organisms and has led, in most cases, to dominant expla...
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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
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Asociación Argentina de Ecología
2023-11-01
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Series: | Ecología Austral |
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Online Access: | https://ojs.ecologiaaustral.com.ar/index.php/Ecologia_Austral/article/view/2093 |
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author | Claudia Piccini Melina Devercelli Lilen Yema Angel Segura Marcela Bastidas Navarro María B. Sathicq Gabriela Martínez de la Escalera Ana Martínez Goicoechea Mariana Rodrigues Amaral Da Costa Inés O'Farrell Enrique Lara Carla Kruk |
author_facet | Claudia Piccini Melina Devercelli Lilen Yema Angel Segura Marcela Bastidas Navarro María B. Sathicq Gabriela Martínez de la Escalera Ana Martínez Goicoechea Mariana Rodrigues Amaral Da Costa Inés O'Farrell Enrique Lara Carla Kruk |
author_sort | Claudia Piccini |
collection | DOAJ |
description |
Prevailing social, economic and political ideas and paradigms constitute the lens through which scientists observe, assess, and understand the world. This affects how we interpret and understand the mechanisms governing the interaction between organisms and has led, in most cases, to dominant explanations and paradigms that are difficult to overthrow. This is the case of ecological theory, whose perspectives have followed the rationale of societal changes. From the industrial revolution to very recently, species competition for resources was regarded as one of the main drivers of species interactions. Nowadays, a new and rapidly growing way of thinking emerged, fueled by the high sequencing capacities, ultra-resolution microscopy and the slowly growing number of different social and gender perspectives participating in ecological studies: that living beings are not just single organisms interacting with other single organisms, but complex communities of macro- and microorganisms living and evolving together. The information emerging from this field is bringing new light to previously disregarded aspects of the ecological interactions that, in our opinion, will change the main paradigms in ecology. As members of a South American scientific network of Aquatic Microbial Ecology (MicroSudAqua), here we propose to explore alternative explanations for ecological observations, searching for new traits accounting for cooperation between microorganisms as a fundamental evolutionary and ecological strategy.
* Photo: Hyalosphenia papilio (Amoebozoa; Arcellinida), an amoeba species that hosts endosymbiotic algae related to the genus Chlorella. These organisms live in boreal peat bogs, an oligotrophic environment where they obtain much needed nutrients through their photosynthesizing partners. The amoeba requires the alga to close its life cycle, and has never been observed without it. Image: Prof. Edward A. D. Mitchell
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first_indexed | 2024-03-08T23:57:32Z |
format | Article |
id | doaj.art-328a9810cb084394be6cdf84d690ce0f |
institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
issn | 0327-5477 1667-782X |
language | English |
last_indexed | 2024-03-08T23:57:32Z |
publishDate | 2023-11-01 |
publisher | Asociación Argentina de Ecología |
record_format | Article |
series | Ecología Austral |
spelling | doaj.art-328a9810cb084394be6cdf84d690ce0f2023-12-13T00:27:42ZengAsociación Argentina de EcologíaEcología Austral0327-54771667-782X2023-11-0133310.25260/EA.23.33.3.0.2093From competition to cooperation: Paradigm shifts in trait-based ecology change our understanding of the processes that structure microbial communitiesClaudia Piccini0Melina Devercelli1Lilen Yema2Angel Segura3Marcela Bastidas Navarro4María B. Sathicq5Gabriela Martínez de la Escalera6Ana Martínez Goicoechea7Mariana Rodrigues Amaral Da Costa8Inés O'Farrell9Enrique Lara10Carla Kruk11Laboratorio de Ecología Microbiana Acuática, Departamento de Microbiología, Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas Clemente Estable. Montevideo, UruguayInstituto Nacional de Limnología, INALI (CONICET-UNL); Instituto Nacional del Agua, Subgerencia Centro Regional Litoral, SCRL-INA; Instituto Universitario de Seguridad Marítima, Prefectura Naval Argentina, IUSM-PNA, ArgentinaLaboratorio de Limnología, IEGEBA (UBA-CONICET)MEDIA, Centro Universitario Regional Este, Universidad de la República, UruguayLaboratorio de Limnología, INIBIOMA (CONICET-Universidad Nacional del Comahue). Bariloche, ArgentinaInstituto de Limnología “Dr. Raúl A. Ringuelet”, ILPLA (UNLP-CONICET). Buenos Aires, ArgentinaLaboratorio de Ecología Microbiana Acuática, Departamento de Microbiología, Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas Clemente Estable. Montevideo, UruguayLaboratorio de Fitoplancton Tóxico, DINARA. Ecología Funcional de sistemas acuáticos, CUREDepartamento de Ecologia Pós Graduação em Ecologia Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), BrasilLaboratorio de Limnología, IEGEBA (UBA-CONICET)Real Jardín Botánico-CSIC. Madrid, EspañaIECA, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Uruguay. MEDIA, Centro Universitario Regional Este, Universidad de la República, Uruguay Prevailing social, economic and political ideas and paradigms constitute the lens through which scientists observe, assess, and understand the world. This affects how we interpret and understand the mechanisms governing the interaction between organisms and has led, in most cases, to dominant explanations and paradigms that are difficult to overthrow. This is the case of ecological theory, whose perspectives have followed the rationale of societal changes. From the industrial revolution to very recently, species competition for resources was regarded as one of the main drivers of species interactions. Nowadays, a new and rapidly growing way of thinking emerged, fueled by the high sequencing capacities, ultra-resolution microscopy and the slowly growing number of different social and gender perspectives participating in ecological studies: that living beings are not just single organisms interacting with other single organisms, but complex communities of macro- and microorganisms living and evolving together. The information emerging from this field is bringing new light to previously disregarded aspects of the ecological interactions that, in our opinion, will change the main paradigms in ecology. As members of a South American scientific network of Aquatic Microbial Ecology (MicroSudAqua), here we propose to explore alternative explanations for ecological observations, searching for new traits accounting for cooperation between microorganisms as a fundamental evolutionary and ecological strategy. * Photo: Hyalosphenia papilio (Amoebozoa; Arcellinida), an amoeba species that hosts endosymbiotic algae related to the genus Chlorella. These organisms live in boreal peat bogs, an oligotrophic environment where they obtain much needed nutrients through their photosynthesizing partners. The amoeba requires the alga to close its life cycle, and has never been observed without it. Image: Prof. Edward A. D. Mitchell https://ojs.ecologiaaustral.com.ar/index.php/Ecologia_Austral/article/view/2093traitsecological theorycooperationcompetitionbiases |
spellingShingle | Claudia Piccini Melina Devercelli Lilen Yema Angel Segura Marcela Bastidas Navarro María B. Sathicq Gabriela Martínez de la Escalera Ana Martínez Goicoechea Mariana Rodrigues Amaral Da Costa Inés O'Farrell Enrique Lara Carla Kruk From competition to cooperation: Paradigm shifts in trait-based ecology change our understanding of the processes that structure microbial communities Ecología Austral traits ecological theory cooperation competition biases |
title | From competition to cooperation: Paradigm shifts in trait-based ecology change our understanding of the processes that structure microbial communities |
title_full | From competition to cooperation: Paradigm shifts in trait-based ecology change our understanding of the processes that structure microbial communities |
title_fullStr | From competition to cooperation: Paradigm shifts in trait-based ecology change our understanding of the processes that structure microbial communities |
title_full_unstemmed | From competition to cooperation: Paradigm shifts in trait-based ecology change our understanding of the processes that structure microbial communities |
title_short | From competition to cooperation: Paradigm shifts in trait-based ecology change our understanding of the processes that structure microbial communities |
title_sort | from competition to cooperation paradigm shifts in trait based ecology change our understanding of the processes that structure microbial communities |
topic | traits ecological theory cooperation competition biases |
url | https://ojs.ecologiaaustral.com.ar/index.php/Ecologia_Austral/article/view/2093 |
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