An Interdisciplinary Perspective of the Built-Environment Microbiome

TL;DR

This paper reviews the ecology and dynamics of microbial communities in the built environment, emphasizing interdisciplinary research opportunities across ecology, epidemiology, materials science, and social behavior.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of built-environment microbiome ecology, integrating multiple disciplines and highlighting future research directions.

Findings

Microbial communities are influenced by architectural design and human activity.

Transmission mechanisms and spatial ecology are key to understanding microbiome dynamics.

Interdisciplinary approaches can advance microbiome management in buildings.

Abstract

The built environment provides an excellent setting for interdisciplinary research on the dynamics of microbial communities. The system is simplified compared to many natural settings, and to some extent the entire environment can be manipulated, from architectural design, to materials use, air flow, human traffic, and capacity to disrupt microbial communities through cleaning. Here we provide an overview of the ecology of the microbiome in the built environment. We address niche space and refugia, population and community (metagenomic) dynamics, spatial ecology within a building, including the major microbial transmission mechanisms, as well as evolution. We also address the landscape ecology connecting microbiomes between physically separated buildings. At each stage we pay particular attention to the actual and potential interface between disciplines, such as ecology, epidemiology, materials science, and human social behavior. We end by identifying some opportunities for future interdisciplinary research on the microbiome of the built environment.