Theoretical Foundation

This project is grounded in theories of ecological succession and microbial competition. Ecological theory predicts that as disturbed habitats recover, they gain structural and biological complexity, creating conditions for diverse microbial communities to reestablish. Microbial ecology further suggests that in such competitive, resource-limited environments, microbes produce secondary metabolites—including antibiotics—as survival strategies. By testing whether rewilded soils harbor antibiotic-producing organisms, this project applies these frameworks to link ecosystem recovery with microbial function, illustrating how environmental restoration may also restore microbial capacities that support human health.