Environment-host-microbial interactions shape the Sarracenia purpurea microbiome at the continental scale.

The importance of climate, habitat structure, and higher trophic levels on microbial diversity is only beginning to be understood. Here, we examined the influence of climate variables, plant morphology, and the abundance of aquatic invertebrates on the microbial biodiversity of the northern pitcher plant Sarracenia purpurea. The plant's cup-shaped leaves fill with rainwater and support a miniature, yet full-fledged, ecosystem with a diverse microbiome that decomposes captured prey and a small network of shredding and filter-feeding aquatic invertebrates that feed on microbes.