Vol. 8, Issue 1, Part A (2026)

Microbial communities are crucial in the operation of most of the ecosystems, and little is known about their responsiveness to environmental stress. The manner in which such stressors affect the structure and functioning of microbial communities is explained in a three-tiered conceptual framework, which has an impact on the ecosystem resilience, the capacity to absorb disturbances and retain the same relationship among the populations as existed previously. Microbial responses involve community-based aspects like composition, diversity, assembly and metabolic activity, and physiology of an individual. Stressors are diverse in nature, origin, length, and intensity and may be either abiotic factors (e.g., temperature, salinity, pH, nutrients, contaminants) or biotic factors (e.g., competition, predation, parasitism, substrate availability). Some of the key forces include climate change, pollution, land use, and natural disturbances. The lack of understanding of the interaction of the stressor properties with the microbial reactions hinders the predictions of the ecosystem resilience and the creation of the effective strategies of adapting to the changes and implementing the necessary mitigation measures.

Microbial communities have been noted to have quite dramatic responses to environmental disturbances and growing evidence shows that these responses are closely associated with ecosystem resilience. Through studies during the last twenty years, there is increased knowledge of how communities and their environments interact, but there are no solid theoretical, conceptual, and observational frameworks to associate the type, magnitude and frequency of stressors to community processes and, finally, to ecosystem stability. The current changing body of knowledge on the effects of stressors on community structure and ecosystem processes requires a synthesis that reveals the gaps in knowledge and suggests areas of investigation.