Microbial Bioactives
Microbial Bioactives | Online ISSN 2209-2161
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Volume 7 Number 1 2024
REVIEWS (Open Access)
Invisible Ecosystems Across Built, Clinical, and Industrial Environments: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analytical Perspective on Microbial Diversity, Transmission, and Ecological Function
Shahadat Hossain 1*
Microbial Bioactives 7 (1) 1-8 https://doi.org/10.25163/microbbioacts.7110658
Submitted: 10 August 2024 Revised: 02 October 2024 Accepted: 11 October 2024 Published: 13 October 2024
Abstract
Microbial communities are integral components of natural, built, and host-associated environments, exerting profound influences on ecosystem functioning, environmental health, and human well-being. Advances in high-throughput sequencing, metagenomics, and molecular ecology have transformed our understanding of microbial diversity across diverse habitats, including healthcare environments, fitness centers, water systems, agricultural settings, food-processing facilities, and petroleum reservoirs. However, findings across studies remain fragmented, with considerable variability driven by methodological choices, environmental conditions, and analytical frameworks. This systematic review and meta-analysis synthesize evidence from multidisciplinary studies to provide an integrated perspective on microbial community structure, diversity, and functional potential across heterogeneous environments. Following PRISMA guidelines, peer-reviewed studies employing culture-dependent and culture-independent approaches were systematically screened, critically appraised, and quantitatively analyzed where applicable. The review highlights consistent patterns in core microbiome assembly, environmental filtering, and host or surface specificity, while also identifying substantial heterogeneity linked to sampling strategies, sequencing platforms, and bioinformatic pipelines. Meta-analytical outcomes reveal that environmental context strongly modulates microbial composition, with built and healthcare environments showing distinct microbial signatures compared to natural and industrial ecosystems. Importantly, the analysis underscores the growing relevance of microbial surveillance for infection control, environmental monitoring, food safety, and biotechnological applications. By integrating evidence across sectors, this study clarifies current knowledge gaps, emphasizes the need for methodological harmonization, and supports the use of standardized molecular tools to improve comparability across studies. Overall, the findings advance a holistic understanding of microbial ecology and provide a robust evidence base for future research, policy development, and practical interventions aimed at managing microbial communities in complex environments.
Keywords: Microbial diversity; microbiome; systematic review; meta-analysis; built environment; molecular ecology; environmental microbiology
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