The article "Fundamentals of Microbial Community Resistance and Resilience" by Shade et al. provides an overview of the concepts and mechanisms that govern microbial community stability in response to disturbances. The authors highlight the importance of understanding microbial community behavior in disturbed environments, which is crucial for predicting community responses to disturbances such as climate change. They define disturbance as a causal event that alters the immediate environment or directly affects the community, and stability as the community's response to disturbance, encompassing resistance (insensitivity to disturbance) and resilience (rate of recovery after disturbance). The article reviews key ecological concepts relevant to microbial stability, including the distinction between pulse and press disturbances, and the methods used to measure resistance and resilience. It discusses the biological features of individual microorganisms, populations, and communities that influence stability, such as physiological plasticity, stress tolerance, dormancy, evolutionary adaptation, growth rate, stochastic gene expression, and dispersal. The authors also explore the role of diversity in enhancing functional and compositional stability. A literature survey of 247 studies on microbial community responses to disturbances reveals that most microbial communities are sensitive to disturbances, but the extent of resilience varies. The survey highlights the need for more research on microbial responses to biological and compound disturbances, as well as the development of standardized methods for reporting compositional and functional responses to disturbances. Overall, the article emphasizes the importance of systems-level perspectives, informed by meta-omics data, to gain deeper insights into microbial community stability and the potential for regime shifts in microbial communities.The article "Fundamentals of Microbial Community Resistance and Resilience" by Shade et al. provides an overview of the concepts and mechanisms that govern microbial community stability in response to disturbances. The authors highlight the importance of understanding microbial community behavior in disturbed environments, which is crucial for predicting community responses to disturbances such as climate change. They define disturbance as a causal event that alters the immediate environment or directly affects the community, and stability as the community's response to disturbance, encompassing resistance (insensitivity to disturbance) and resilience (rate of recovery after disturbance). The article reviews key ecological concepts relevant to microbial stability, including the distinction between pulse and press disturbances, and the methods used to measure resistance and resilience. It discusses the biological features of individual microorganisms, populations, and communities that influence stability, such as physiological plasticity, stress tolerance, dormancy, evolutionary adaptation, growth rate, stochastic gene expression, and dispersal. The authors also explore the role of diversity in enhancing functional and compositional stability. A literature survey of 247 studies on microbial community responses to disturbances reveals that most microbial communities are sensitive to disturbances, but the extent of resilience varies. The survey highlights the need for more research on microbial responses to biological and compound disturbances, as well as the development of standardized methods for reporting compositional and functional responses to disturbances. Overall, the article emphasizes the importance of systems-level perspectives, informed by meta-omics data, to gain deeper insights into microbial community stability and the potential for regime shifts in microbial communities.