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Abstract:
A continuously mixed series of microbial communities inhabits
various points of the respiratory tract, with community composition
determined by distance from colonization sources, colonization
rates, and extinction rates. Ecology and evolution theory developed in
the context of biogeography is relevant to clinical microbiology
and could reframe the interpretation of recent studies comparing
communities from lung explant samples, sputum samples, and
oropharyngeal swabs. We propose an island biogeography model
of the microbial communities inhabiting different niches in human
airways. Island biogeography as applied to communities separated
by time and space is a useful parallel for exploring microbial
colonization of healthy and diseased lungs, with the potential to inform
ourunderstanding ofmicrobial community dynamics and the relevance
of microbes detected in different sample types. In this perspective,
we focus on the intermixed microbial communities inhabiting different
regions of the airways of patients with cystic fibrosis.
