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Topic · Ecology

Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology

Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology is a research topic within Ecology. Science Explorer counts 61k research works in it since 1950. 28.1% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the diversity, biogeography, and ecological interactions of marine microbial communities, including bacteria and archaea. It investigates the rare biosphere, community assembly processes, and the roles of phytoplankton in shaping microbial landscapes. The papers also delve into the functional implications of microbial community structures and the genomic basis of trophic strategies in marine bacteria.

  • Marine Microbes
  • Microbial Biogeography
  • Bacterial Diversity
  • Archaeal Communities
  • Ocean Microbiome
  • Community Assembly
  • Rare Biosphere
  • Phytoplankton Interactions
  • Ammonia-Oxidizing Archaea
  • Microbial Ecology
Research works
61k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
17k
per year above
Top-10% rate
28.1%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+33%
the tick is no change

Which countries lead Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (4.7k and 1.6k works in 2022–2025).

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 China 4.7k works
  2. 2 United States 1.6k works
  3. 3 India 663 works
  4. 4 Germany 461 works
  5. 5 France 406 works
  6. 6 Japan 401 works
  7. 7 Russia 401 works
  8. 8 United Kingdom 300 works
  9. 9 South Korea 280 works
  10. 10 Canada 263 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

China: 49.1%United States: 17.4%India: 7.0%Germany: 4.9%6 others listed: 21.6%49%largest
China4,654 · 49.1%United States1,644 · 17.4%India663 · 7.0%Germany461 · 4.9%6 others listed2,050 · 21.6%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology research?

By volume in 2022–2025, Chinese Academy of Sciences publishes the most Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology research, followed by University of Chinese Academy of Sciences and Ocean University of China.

Who are the leading researchers in Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology include Rob Knight, Peer Bork and Josep Peñuelas.

  1. 1 Rob Knight United States 4.9k citations
  2. 2 Peer Bork Germany 4.7k citations
  3. 3 Josep Peñuelas Spain 4.1k citations
  4. 4 Carlos M. Duarte Saudi Arabia 4.1k citations
  5. 5 Hiroyuki Ogata Japan 4.1k citations
  6. 6 Daniel H. Huson Germany 3.6k citations
  7. 7 Pete Smith United Kingdom 3k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

Where is Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology research done?

The largest centres of Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology research in 2022–2025 are Beijing (China), Nanjing (China), Qingdao (China) and Guangzhou (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Kentfield.

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Beijing China 1.1k works
  2. 2 Nanjing China 309 works
  3. 3 Qingdao China 247 works
  4. 4 Guangzhou China 238 works
  5. 5 Shanghai China 173 works
  6. 6 Moscow Russia 161 works
  7. 7 Paris France 155 works
  8. 8 Wuhan China 147 works
  9. 9 Hangzhou China 131 works
  10. 10 Xiamen China 104 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. KentfieldUS · 22.2 works69×
← less than its size predictsmore →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology than the world average.

See Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology on the map

Where is the best place to study Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology?

Among universities, judged by research, Hohai University, Northwest A&F University and Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%60%mean 36.76%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →Hohai University: 62, 33.6%Northwest A&F University: 42, 50.9%Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences: 20, 43.0%Chengdu Institute of Biology: 10, 39.2%Hebei University of Science and Technology: 11, 43.0%King Abdullah University of Science and Technology: 16, 42.6%Zhejiang Ocean University: 21, 22.5%University of Chinese Academy of Sciences: 120, 37.0%Beijing Forestry University: 24, 33.3%Ocean University of China: 86, 22.5%Northwest A&F Univer…Swedish University o…Chengdu Institute of…Hohai University
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the table below. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1 Hohai UniversityChina 68.633.6%9.2×62 +244.2%
2 Northwest A&F UniversityChina 67.450.9%8.9×42 +81.5%
3 Swedish University of Agricultural SciencesSweden 63.543.0%10.5×20 +29.2%
4 Chengdu Institute of BiologyChina 61.139.2%31.6×10 +157.8%
5 Hebei University of Science and TechnologyChina 59.943.0%8.4×11 +269.6%
6 King Abdullah University of Science and TechnologySaudi Arabia 59.042.6%4.8×16 +268.0%
7 Zhejiang Ocean UniversityChina 58.522.5%10.6×21 +282.3%
8 University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 57.637.0%6.0×120 +60.2%
9 Beijing Forestry UniversityChina 56.133.3%6.9×24 +259.6%
10 Ocean University of ChinaChina 55.622.5%13.9×86 +12.4%

Universities only. Score blends excellence (30%), specialisation (25%), size (20%), growth (15%) and international reach (10%), 2015–2022; growth compares 2010–14 with 2015–19.

Is Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 33% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2022. The fastest-growing topics are Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology.

19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon — one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.