Title : Unraveling Emergent Properties in Plant-Microbe Symbioses and Community Assembly
Abstract : Nearly all organisms exist within diverse communities, linked by a complex web of ecological and evolutionary interactions—the eco-evolutionary context. In this talk, I discuss how embracing this complexity provides critical insights into the emergence of ecosystem functions and properties. I will present two illustrative cases: first, the predictive assembly of multispecies microbial communities; and second, a plant-microbe symbiosis that spans the continuum between mutualism and antagonism. By integrating these perspectives, we can better understand how specific interactions scale up to shape broader ecological patterns.