Linking microbiome temporal dynamics to host ecology in the wild

Increasingly, researchers are interested in quantifying temporal dynamics of host-associated microbiomes, yet an individual-host approach is still rare in the literature.Detailed longitudinal data from wild individual hosts are key to understanding the fitness implications of temporal microbiome stability and dynamics.Whether stability or flexibility of host-associated microbiomes is beneficial to a host will depend on the ecological context, and so incorporating knowledge of host ecology to these individual-level approaches is vital.Recent advances in analytical approaches may provide helpful tools in testing hypotheses of individual variation in microbiome temporal stability and the consequences of this for host fitness. Ignoring the dynamic nature of microbial communities risks underestimating the power of microbes to impact the health of their hosts. Microbiomes are thought to be important for host fitness, yet the coarse temporal scale and population-level focus of many studies precludes the ability to investigate the importance of among-individual variation in stability and identify the ecological contexts in which this variation matters. Here we briefly summarise current knowledge of temporal dynamics in wild host-associated microbial communities. We then discuss the implications of among-individual variation in microbiota stability and suggest analytical approaches for understanding these patterns. One major requirement is for future studies to conduct individual-level longitudinal analyses, with some systems already well set up for answering these questions. Ignoring the dynamic nature of microbial communities risks underestimating the power of microbes to impact the health of their hosts. Microbiomes are thought to be important for host fitness, yet the coarse temporal scale and population-level focus of many studies precludes the ability to investigate the importance of among-individual variation in stability and identify the ecological contexts in which this variation matters. Here we briefly summarise current knowledge of temporal dynamics in wild host-associated microbial communities. We then discuss the implications of among-individual variation in microbiota stability and suggest analytical approaches for understanding these patterns. One major requirement is for future studies to conduct individual-level longitudinal analyses, with some systems already well set up for answering these questions.