Figure 3.

Summary of a literature survey of microbial community responses to pulse and press disturbances. The survey included studies that investigated changes in microbial community structure after biological, chemical, or physical disturbances. (A) Representation of investigations across ecosystem types, and by whether the investigation was a designed experiment or opportune in situ observations after a disturbance. There were 378 total investigations from 247 total studies, as some studies investigated more than one disturbance or measured more than one function, and some studies did not report either. (B) Resistance was determined by sensitivity (change in composition or function after disturbance). Some investigations measured both composition and function, and were included in both charts. (C) If a community was sensitive to disturbance, resilience was measured as recovery to pre-disturbance composition or function. Many investigations that reported community sensitivity did not assess recovery.