PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Tecon, Robin
AU  - Mitri, Sara
AU  - Ciccarese, Davide
AU  - Or, Dani
AU  - van der Meer, Jan Roelof
AU  - Johnson, David R.
TI  - Bridging the Holistic-Reductionist Divide in Microbial Ecology
AID  - 10.1128/mSystems.00265-18
DP  - 2019 Feb 26
TA  - mSystems
PG  - e00265-18
VI  - 4
IP  - 1
4099  - http://msystems.asm.org/content/4/1/e00265-18.short
4100  - http://msystems.asm.org/content/4/1/e00265-18.full
AB  - Microbial communities are inherently complex systems. To address this complexity, microbial ecologists are developing new, more elaborate laboratory models at an ever-increasing pace. These model microbial communities and habitats have opened up the exploration of new territories that lie between the simplicity and controllability of “synthetic” systems and the convolution and complexity of natural environments. Here, we discuss this classic methodological divide, we propose a conceptual perspective that integrates new research developments, and we sketch a 3-point possible roadmap to cross the divide between controllability and complexity in microbial ecology.