Host-associated microbiomes play vital roles in organismal health, ecological interactions, and evolution, yet little is known about how microbial communities shift during the transition from aquatic

The gap

Consensus across the literature

Supporting evidence — 3 representative gaps

• Skin microbiome mirrors habitat divergence in amphibious combtooth blenny fish (Teleostei, Blenniidae) (2026) · doi

  Host-associated microbiomes play vital roles in organismal health, ecological interactions, and evolution, yet little is known about how microbial communities shift during the transition from aquatic to increasingly terrestrial habitats.

  Keywords: host associated microbiomes play vital roles organismal health ecological interactions evolution little known microbial communities
• Coupled effects of salinity and host phylogeny on niche breadth and viral evolution from seawater to salt saturation (2026) · doi

  Virus-host interactions are fundamental drivers of microbial community structure, yet whether viral ecological niches are confined within individual host niches (nested host niche scenario) or span multiple hosts and exceed any single host niche (expanded host niche scenario) remains poorly understood.

  Keywords: host niche niches scenario virus interactions fundamental drivers microbial community structure whether viral ecological confined
• Examining interactions between the microbiome and viral infection across Drosophila species (2026) · doi

  These reciprocal interactions may contribute to patterns of host susceptibility, but it remains unclear whether microbiome-virus interactions are consistent across host species, or whether host evolutionary relationships influence microbiome variation and its association with viral susceptibility.

  Keywords: host interactions susceptibility whether microbiome reciprocal contribute patterns remains unclear virus consistent across species evolutionary