Scaling up and down: movement ecology for microorganisms

Movement is critical for the fitness of organisms, both large and small. It dictates how individuals acquire resources, evade predators, exchange genetic material, and respond to stressful environments. Movement also influences ecological and evolutionary dynamics at higher organizational levels, such as populations and communities. However, the links between individual motility and the pro-cesses that generate and maintain microbial diversity are poorly understood. Movement ecology is a framework linking the physiological and behavioral prop-erties of individuals to movement patterns across scales of space, time, and biological organization. By synthesizing insights from cell biology, ecology, and evolution, we expand theory from movement ecology to predict the causes and consequences of microbial movements.

Automated summary

Movement is crucial for the fitness and survival of organisms. It plays a role in resource acquisition, predator avoidance, genetic exchange, and response to stressful environments. However, the relationship between individual movement and microbial diversity is not well understood. Movement ecology provides a framework to study the causes and consequences of microbial movements by integrating insights from cell biology, ecology, and evolution.