Landscape Construction Research Articles

Distribution Patterns of Urban Spontaneous Vegetation Diversity and Their Response to Habitat Heterogeneity: A Case Study of Five Cities in Heilongjiang Province, China

Spontaneous vegetation is an important component of urban biodiversity and an excellent agent for exploring the mutual feedback mechanism between urbanization and urban ecosystems. Rapid urbanization has had a significant impact on the composition, structure, and distribution patterns of urban spontaneous vegetation diversity. Studying the diversity distribution patterns and causes of urban plant communities is beneficial for understanding the formation and maintenance mechanisms of plant diversity in specific urban habitats. This study selected five cities in different climate subregions of Heilongjiang Province as research targets and conducted field research using uniform sampling and typical sampling methods. The composition, distribution pattern, and driving factors of spontaneous vegetation were analyzed. The results showed the following: (1) A total of 633 examples of spontaneous vegetation were recorded, belonging to 93 families and 341 genera, mainly consisting of herbaceous plants and native plants. (2) The diversity index and similarity index of spontaneous vegetation in gravel-type abandoned land habitats are higher than those in other habitat types, while the diversity index of spontaneous vegetation in trees and shrubs is lower, and there is no significant difference in regards to different habitats. (3) Urban population density is a key factor affecting the diversity of native plants, while woody plant coverage, patch area, and landscape trait index are key factors affecting non-native plants. (4) The results of canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) showed that the total explanatory power of environmental characteristic factors in regards to the distribution pattern of spontaneous vegetation was 7.5%. The closest distance between adjacent patches, the coverage of woody plants in patches, the distance from the city edge, the patch area, and the surface impermeability of the buffer zones were key factors affecting the distribution of dominant species in spontaneous vegetation communities. The research results will provide an important reference for the conservation of urban biodiversity and the construction of low-maintenance urban green space plant landscapes in Heilongjiang Province.

Analyzing and Strategizing the Emergency Language Landscape: A Case Study of Sanya City, China

The construction of language landscape for urban emergency services is an important part of public services. As a current city for the construction of Hainan Free Trade Port, Sanya City has a unique natural environment and is also a hotbed of various natural disasters in island cities. The challenges faced by emergency language services in Sanya City are not only how to effectively communicate emergency information to domestic citizens, but also how to cross language and cultural differences to ensure that all tourists can understand and follow emergency instructions. Against this background, it is of great significance to study the emergency language landscape of Sanya City.

A Spatiotemporal Empowerment Framework for China’s National 3D Mapping Program 3dRGLM

Abstract. China has launched a national 3D mapping program to build 3D Realistic geospatial Landscape Model (3dRGLm) over the whole country, covering both cities and countryside. The 3dRGLM is a digital description and representation of the real 3D geospatial spaces, and is defined as a new generation geospatial data product with 3D structures, realistic scenes, and geospatial entities. Such a national or local 3dRGLm will set up a digital 3D realistic geospatial space which can facilitate the vital connection with the real geospatial space, and will serve as a new generation of geospatial information infrastructure for our society. With the acquisition of complex 3D spatial data continues to advance, managing and utilizing the massive volumes of 3D data to provide spatiotemporal empowerment applications has become a significant technological challenge. This paper analyzes the technical characteristics of 3d realistic geospatial landscape model, and then proposes the main content and basic structure of a 3d realistic geospatial landscape model database, as well as the spatiotemporal service empowerment methods based on the database. Finally, a case analysis is provided to serve as a reference for the construction and application of 3d realistic geospatial landscape.

Automated model-free analysis of cryo-EM volume ensembles with SIREn.

Cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM) has the potential to capture snapshots of proteins in motion and generate hypotheses linking conformational states to biological function. This potential has been increasingly realized by the advent of machine learning models that allow 100s-1,000s of 3D density maps to be generated from a single dataset. How to identify distinct structural states within these volume ensembles and quantify their relative occupancies remain open questions. Here, we present an approach to inferring variable regions directly from a volume ensemble based on the statistical co-occupancy of voxels, as well as a 3D-convolutional neural network that predicts binarization thresholds for volumes in an unbiased and automated manner. We show that these tools recapitulate known heterogeneity in a variety of simulated and real cryo-EM datasets, and highlight how integrating these tools with existing data processing pipelines enables improved particle curation and the construction of quantitative conformational landscapes.

Construction of Continuous Collective Energy Landscapes for Large Amplitude Nuclear Many-Body Problems.

Several protocols are proposed to build continuous energy surfaces of many-body quantum systems, regarding both energy and states. The standard variational principle is augmented with constraints on state overlap, ensuring arbitrary precision on continuity. As an illustration, the lowest energy and excited state paths relevant for the ^{240}Pu asymmetric fission are studied. The scission is clearly signed, with a neutron excess in the neck, the ultimate glue before its rupture. Our approach can potentially connect any couple of Hilbert space states, which opens up new horizons for various applications.

Potential tumor-specific antigens and immune landscapes identification for mRNA vaccine in thyroid cancer.

Tumor mRNA vaccines have been identified as a promising technology for cancer therapy in multiple cancer types, while their efficacy in thyroid cancer (THCA) is unclear. Immunotyping is strongly associated with the immune microenvironment and immune status in cancer, thus it is important in vaccination and therapeutic response. This study is to identify potential valuable antigens and novel immune subtypes of THCA for immune landscape construction, thus screening patients suitable for mRNA vaccination. The clinical information and gene expression files of 568 THCA cases were obtained from the TCGA dataset. The DNA copy number variation and the somatic mutation of THCA were visualized by the cBioPortal database. TIMER was used to investigate the immune infiltrating correlation with candidate antigens. Consensus clustering analysis was conducted to cluster data using the ConsensusClusterPlus package. The immune landscapes of THCA patients were visualized using the Monocle package. The critical hub genes for THCA mRNA vaccines were identified by WGCNA package. To validate, the immunohistochemistry and real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) were performed to detect the expression level of potential antigen for mRNA vaccine in tissue and cell lines in THCA. Thymidine kinase 1 (TK1) was identified as a potential biomarker of mRNA vaccine against THCA. It was confirmed to be significantly upregulated in THCA tissues and cells lines. Moreover, three novel immune subtypes of THCA were obtained based on the expression consistency of immune-associated genes. The S2 subtype was characterized as an immunological "cold" phenotype with a high expression of immunogenic cell death modulators. S1 and S3 subtypes were immunological "hot" phenotypes with immune checkpoints upregulation. Further, the immune landscape of THCA patients was visualized and ten hub genes for mRNA vaccines were identified. TK1 was a tumor-specific antigen of mRNA vaccines. The patients belonging to the S2 subtype ("cold" tumor) were suitable for mRNA vaccine therapy in THCA. Notably, ten hub genes were conducted as potential biomarkers for identifying suitable patients for mRNA vaccination. These findings provided novel insights into mRNA vaccine development against THCA.

More than one landslide per road kilometer – surveying and modeling mass movements along the Rishikesh–Joshimath (NH-7) highway, Uttarakhand, India

Abstract. The rapidly expanding Himalayan road network connects rural mountainous regions. However, the fragility of the landscape and poor road construction practices lead to frequent mass movements alongside roads. In this study, we investigate fully or partially road-blocking landslides along National Highway (NH-7) in Uttarakhand, India, between Rishikesh and Joshimath. Based on an inventory of >300 landslides along the ∼250 km long corridor following exceptionally high rainfall during September and October 2022, we identify the main controls on the spatial occurrence of mass-movement events. Our analysis and modeling approach conceptualizes landslides as a network-attached spatial point pattern. We evaluate different gridded rainfall products and infer the controls on landslide occurrence using Bayesian analysis of an inhomogeneous Poisson process model. Our results reveal that slope, rainfall amounts, lithology and road widening are the main controls on landslide occurrence. The individual effects of aggregated lithozones are consistent with previous assessments of landslide susceptibilities of rock types in the Himalayas. Our model spatially predicts landslide occurrences and can be adapted to other rainfall scenarios, thus having potential applications for efficiently allocating efforts for road maintenance. To this end, our results highlight the vulnerability of the Himalayan road network to landslides. Climate change and increasing exposure along this pilgrimage route will likely exacerbate landslide risk along the NH-7 in the future.

Research on the application of public art design based on digital technology in urban landscape construction

Research on the application of public art design based on digital technology in urban landscape construction

Landscape positioning of Neolithic mustatil stone structures along the margins of the Nefud Desert, Saudi Arabia

Monumental rectangular stone structures called mustatils are an important emerging feature of the Holocene archaeological record of northwestern Arabia. To date, few have been excavated, with available radiocarbon dates suggesting an age range of ca. 5400–4200 BC. Here we present a rigorous spatial analysis to identify the patterning and landscape context of 169 mustatils in the southern and western margins of the Nefud Desert. This included: (1) a systematic survey of satellite imagery to identify mustatils; (2) viewshed analysis to examine location and landscape visibility; (3) a point process model to understand how diverse environmental and landscape variables affect mustatil locations; (4) mark correlation function to assess spatial patterning of mustatils based on their size. Results indicate that mustatil locations are determined most by proximity to water (likely locations of enhanced surface water occurrence under the enhanced humidity of the Mid-Holocene), on east facing slopes, close to rocky areas, at elevations between 880 and 950 masl, and on or near topographic ridges (positive topographic position index). Viewshed analysis showed that mustatils are preferentially located in areas that have good views, but not the best that are available, indicating complex landscape positioning that balances a range of topographic and behavioural factors. Using a rank permutation method with size (length) of mustatils as a proxy for labour mobilization we show that mustatils within clusters are not arranged hierarchically based on size, and were likely built by non-stratified groups of people. Our analyses show that people were choosing multiple factors when deciding where to build mustatils, and that the distribution of mustatils may relate to different groups of people resulting in the construction of complex ritual landscapes. As one of the earliest examples of large-scale monumental stone structure construction in global prehistory, understanding mustatils can enlighten us on human-environment interaction during the Neolithic.

Construction of Prognostic ceRNA Network Landscape in Breast Cancer to Explore Impacting Genes on Drug Response by Integrative Bioinformatics Analysis

Background: Breast cancer accounts for 30% of all new female cancers yearly. Bioinformatics serves us to find new biomarkers and facilitate future experimental research. Exploring a distinct network of competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) that includes potential prognostic, diagnostic, and therapeutic biomarkers is captivating. Methods: Differentially expressed lncRNAs, mRNAs, and miRNAs were collected using Gene Expression Omnibus datasets. DEGs were validated based on TCGA. Functional analysis and pathway activity were also done. Drug sensitivity analyses were done, and IC50 vs. gene expression plots were depicted. Results: A total of 696 mRNAs, 48 lncRNAs, and, 43 miRNAs were identified to have significant differential expression in cancerous breast tissue than normal breast tissue samples. Functional analysis showed significant pathway enrichments in cancer. We found that 13 individual genes, lncRNAs, and miRNAs, CDC6, ERBB2, EZR, HELLS, MAPK13, MCM2, MMP1, SLC7A5, TINCR, TRIP13, hsa-miR-376a, hsa-miR-21, hsa-miR-454 were significantly predictive of poor overall survival and AKAP12, CXCL12, FGF2, IRS2, LINC00342, LINC01140, MEG3, MIR250HG, NAV3, NDRG2, NEAT1, TGFBR3 and, hsa-miR-29c were associated with favorable overall survival. We reached a set of five genes (EGR1, NFIB, TGFBR3, SMARCA4, and MCM2) that exhibit altered expression patterns in breast cancer, resulting in increased susceptibility of cancer cells to certain drug treatments. Conclusion: We successfully made a unique ce-network, providing new clues to understand the regulatory functions of non-coding RNAs (miRNAs and lncRNAs) in the pathogenesis and prognosis of breast cancer and will facilitate further experimental studies to develop new biomarkers in the diagnosis, prognosis and, therapy of breast cancer.

A Multimodal Analysis of the Linguistic Landscape of Guilin: City as a World-Class Tourism

The study of language landscape has always been the focus of linguistic research, but there are few studies on the world-class tourism language landscape in minority areas. Guilin has always been one of the hottest world-class tourism destinations, with its unique minority character. From the perspectives of multimodal analysis and tourism language landscape construction, this paper discussed the language landscape characteristics of Longyin Road and East-West Lane scenic spots with different orientations and investigated the local people's attitudes towards multilingual signs. The study found that the majority of signs are monolingual and bilingual, predominantly in Chinese and English. Non-textual elements significantly complemented the linguistic landscape, highlighting the need for accurate and diverse multilingual signage to enhance Guilin's world-class tourism image.

Investigation of Influential Factors of Housing Price

The fluctuation of housing prices and its influencing factors are important research topics in economics. Under the current background of rapid globalization and urbanization, understanding the driving factors of housing prices is not only an important contribution to academic research but also has important guiding significance for policymakers and individual home buyers. This paper explores the key factors affecting housing prices, focusing on the impact of variables such as living space, land space, housing landscape, housing conditions, housing quality, and housing construction year on housing prices. This study uses multiple regression analysis to analyze the US housing price data set. The results show that living space, housing landscape, housing quality, and housing construction year have statistically significant effects on housing prices at a significance level of 1%. This study provides an effective reference to real estate developers, policymakers, and individual home buyers, which can help them understand market demand more deeply, make decisions that are more in line with market trends, and promote the dynamic and functional development of the real estate market.

Tourists’ narrative engagement and the multidimensional construction of historic urban landscapes: exploring the role of narration in place attachment

This study explores how the tourists’ narration contributes to the construction of the Historic Urban Landscape (HUL), with the forming of place attachment. Leveraging the Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique, this study investigates tourists’ narration of Wuzhen, a historic town in China. The results reveal that tourists have a substantial influence on crafting a fresh narrative, actively contributing to the inclusive cultural landscape within the context of indigenous urbanisation in the HUL. Place attachment forms within this process, first with the cultivation of familiarity, then with the development of meaningful memories for city-dwelling tourists. These findings establish a correlation between tourist narration, place attachment, and the construction of the HUL. The study then highlights the creation of a multi-dimensional landscape representation due to diverse tourist narratives and underscores the previously undervalued role of narration as an essential element in the framework of place attachment.

The Interplay between Citizen Activities and Space across Different Official Memorial Landscape Construction Phases: Disaster Risk Reduction in Ishinomaki, Japan

Memorial facilities are one of the crucial places where citizens conduct activities facilitating disaster risk reduction (DRR). However, previous studies have primarily focused on the post-construction phase of official memorial facilities, neglecting the citizen activities collaborating with the official memorial construction process before and during the construction process. This research gap is important considering the urgency of disaster-affected regions to recover from spatial, social, and psychological voids while working towards the goal of DRR, including the efforts of citizens in the official efforts. This study addresses this gap by examining the case of the official memorial park in Ishinomaki, Tohoku region, following the Great East Japan Earthquake. Here, local citizens actively participated in activities before, during, and after park construction, engaging with official efforts. Data were gathered from various online sources to capture activity, space, and management information. Employing a mixed methods research approach, we conducted both quantitative analysis, counting labels of structural coding, and qualitative description of original texts. Our findings reveal that fostering mutual respect built on communication and collaborative tree-planting activities were crucial for maintaining the pre-existing citizen activities and collaborative construction during the official construction period. Additionally, the implementation of a collaborative regulation system was vital for integrating and managing spontaneous citizen activities to achieve the park’s intended objectives post-opening. In conclusion, we highlighted a framework elucidating the mechanisms through which these processes contribute to DRR across key phases of disaster risk management: preparedness, prevention, response, and recovery (PPRR). These insights are important in guiding efforts to engage citizens in DRR initiatives through recovery and reconstruction facilitated by memorial facilities.

Turning peril into opportunity: Construction and validation of a resilience assessment system for China's coastal megacities

Enhancing urban resilience and strengthening risk resistance capacities have emerged as pivotal concerns in the construction and governance of contemporary urban landscapes globally. Given the uniqueness of coastal megacities in terms of geography and population, a more targeted and effective resilience assessment is urgently needed. This investigation develops a comprehensive, multidimensional index system to assess the resilience life cycle of China's coastal megacities. First, we creatively introduce the process perspective of the 4R model of crisis management into urban resilience assessment, revealing the preventive, defensive, recovery, and transformative resilience of China's coastal megacities. Second, we propose a spatio-temporal assessment matrix that integrates four processes of urban resilience and six representative subsystems in coastal megacities: social, economic, ecological, infrastructural, technological, and institutional. Third, we select 59 indicators to construct a three-level assessment index system for China's coastal megacities. This index system is strictly screened and optimized through qualitative and quantitative methods. Fourth, we validate the assessment system using Qingdao's data by calculating an urban resilience index and analyzing trends. We find the most important improvement goals and resilience enhancement suggestions for Qingdao by analyzing the indicator sensitivity. This study contributes to the development of urban resilience theories and identifies weaknesses in different dimensions to strengthen and improve the resilience of coastal megacities.

CATÁSTROFE E RESISTÊNCIA NA AMAZÔNIA CONTEMPORÂNEA: uma análise discursiva do conto Mamí tinha razão, de João Meirelles Filho

This communication proposes to analyse, from the perspective of comparative studies and landscape theory, the poem Canción de jinete, by Federico García Lorca, and the Brazilian resistance poetry produced after the military coup of 1964 (Ferreira Gullar, Thiago de Mello, mimeograph generation, etc.). To this end, theoretical and philosophical contributions on landscape and complexity (Claudio Guillén, Michel Collot, Anne Cauquelin, Agustín Berque, Alain Roger, Gilles Deleuze, Manuel Ángel Vázquez-Medel, Èdouard Glissant) will be taken as support to seek parallels and similarities, in the construction of the forbidden landscape, between the Spanish poet and Brazilian poetry. Military dictatorships have disastrous consequences on any community and one of the most persecuted segments, due to its power of persuasion, is the artistic/intellectual. Murders, torture and exile are the main resources used by usurpers to silence the voices of those who resist living under the shadow of totalitarianism. As a cultural construct, the literary landscape is influenced by the space-time circumstances in which the poet finds himself. The landscape apprehended in experiences of oppression and exile records the violence that human beings can exercise in situations of power, remaining as a historical testimony of a tragedy that should not be repeated, nor forgotten.

CANCIÓN DE JINETE: o olhar equidistante da paisagem proibida

This communication proposes to analyse, from the perspective of comparative studies and landscape theory, the poem Canción de Jinete, by Federico García Lorca, and the Brazilian resistance poetry produced after the military coup of 1964 (Ferreira Gullar, Thiago de Mello, mimeograph generation…). To this end, the concepts of landscape and complexity (Claudio Guillén, Michel Collot, Anne Cauquelin, Agustín Berque, Alain Roger, Gilles Deleuze, Manuel Ángel Vázquez-Medel, Èdouard Glissant) will be taken as a theoretical and philosophical support to seek parallels and similarities, in the construction of the forbidden landscape, between the Spanish poet and Brazilian poetry. Military dictatorships have disastrous consequences on any community and one of the most persecuted segments, due to its power of persuasion, is the artistic/intellectual. Murders, torture and exile are the main resources used by usurpers to silence the voices of those who resist living under the shadow of totalitarianism. As a cultural construct, the literary landscape is influenced by the space-time circumstances in which the poet finds himself. The landscape apprehended in experiences of oppression and exile records the violence that human beings can exercise in situations of power, remaining as a historical testimony of a tragedy that should not be repeated, nor forgotten.

Delineating Landscape Features Perception in Tourism-Based Traditional Villages: A Case Study of Xijiang Thousand Households Miao Village, Guizhou

This study is a feature perception study of traditional village landscapes, refines the research method of traditional village landscape features using tourists online comment data, combs the landscape perception features of Xijiang Thousand Households Miao Village from tourists perspectives, digs out the managers’ problems in landscape planning, protection, utilisation, and puts forward the corresponding improvement strategies. In this paper, the Octopus data collector was used to collect online evaluation data from nine target platforms, and ROST CM6 was used to analyse the data for word frequency analysis, semantic network analysis, and sentiment analysis. Finally, using Nvivo12, the data was coded and a multidimensional model of landscape perception was constructed: natural landscapes, cultural and social landscapes, perceived landscapes, seasonal landscapes, and services and infrastructures. The results show that in the landscape perception model, the cultural and social landscape modules are the core factors affecting tourists’ psychological perceptions, with most tourists holding positive emotions towards the scenic spots and a few negative emotions mainly focusing on the relatively weak natural landscape, the unsatisfactory road system and charging system, and the over-commercialised development. In response to these problems, this study proposes corresponding planning recommendations. The results of the study reflect the trend of deep integration of culture and tourism in traditional villages in China, respond to the policy guidance of China’s rural revitalisation policy, and provide useful references and insights for the landscape construction and development of the Xijiang Thousand Households Miao Village and even similar tourist-oriented traditional villages.

Construction of Multisensory Landscape and Integration of Soundscape, Smellscape and Lightscape in Traditional Chinese Gardens

This paper proposes the concept of multisensory landscape construction, pointing out that people’s perception and appreciation of a landscape is a process of overall impression and judgment formed with a combination of visual, auditory, olfactory, tactile, and even thermal and humid sense. Examples can be found in many famous traditional Chinese gardens. Around the West Lake area, there are famous soundscape scenic spots, e.g., Liu Lang Wen Ying (Orioles Singing in the Willows), Nan Ping Evening Bell (Evening Bell Ringing at the Nanping Hill), Zhejiang Qiu Tao (Autumn Wave of Zhejiang), and Jiu Li Song Tao (Wave of Pine Trees Lasts Nine Miles) . There are also some famous lightscape scenic spots, e.g., San Tan Ying Yue (Moon and Candlelight Mirrored in the Lake) and Ping Hu Qiu Yue (Moon over the Peaceful Lake in Autumn) . In terms of smellscape, in addition to the famous scenic spot Qu Yuan Feng He (Curved Yard and Lotus Pool in Summer), the West Lake area is also widely planted with osmanthus and other fragrant plants, forming a smellscape in which "late autumn is fragrant with osmanthus flowers and lotus in bloom for miles and miles." At Humble Administrator Garden, there are soundscape scenic spots such as Wu Zhu You Ju (Secluded Residence among Bamboo Bushes) and Liu Ting Ge (Pavilion to Pause and Listen); there are smellscape scenic spots such as the Orchid Field, the Magnolia Courtyard, the Panicum Pavilion, etc.; lightscape scenic spots such as Liu Ying Ge (Hall of Reflecting Shadows) and Ta Ying Ting (Pavilion of Shadow of Tower) can also be found there. In Chengde Summer Resort, there are soundscape scenic spots such as Wan He Song Feng (Wind of Ten Thousand Ravines and Pines) and lightscape scenic spots such as Xi Ling Chen Xia (Morning Sunset on West Ridge), etc.; smellscape scenic spots such as Qu Shui Hua Xiang (Fragrance of Flowers in the Curved Water) and Yuan Xiang Tang (Hall of Fragrance of Far Away) can also be found.The above classic cases eloquently prove that the creation of multisensory landscape and the integration of them are the valuable experience in traditional Chinese gardens, which play an important role in the achievement of famous landscape.Therefore, the design of landscape must pay attention to the creation and integration of soundscape, smellscape and lightscape. Another key point of the theory of multisensory landscape construction is that it is necessary to pay attention to both spatial and temporal dimensions so that the constructed landscape can be enjoyed everywhere and at all time periods. In this regard, the creation of the three-scape (specifically refer to soundscape, smellscape and lightscape) can also highlight their regional and temporal characteristics. By analyzing some classic cases of traditional Chinese gardens, this paper proposes that the construction of multisensory landscape and the integration of soundscape, smellscape and lightscape are the valuable experience in traditional Chinese gardens, which are also important for the achievement of famous landscapes and are excellent traditions that we should vigorously inherit and carry forward.

An energy landscape approach reveals the potential key bacteria contributing to the development of inflammatory bowel disease.

The dysbiosis of microbiota has been reported to be associated with numerous human pathophysiological processes, including inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). With advancements in high-throughput sequencing, various methods have been developed to study the alteration of microbiota in the development and progression of diseases. However, a suitable approach to assess the global stability of the microbiota in disease states through time-series microbiome data is yet to be established. In this study, we have introduced a novel Energy Landscape construction method, which incorporates the Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) model and the pairwise Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) model for their complementary advantages, and demonstrate its utility by applying it to an IBD time-series dataset. Through this approach, we obtained the microbial assemblages' energy profile of the whole microbiota under the IBD condition and uncovered the hidden stable stages of microbiota structure during the disease development with time-series microbiome data. The Bacteroides-dominated assemblages presenting in multiple stable states suggest the potential contribution of Bacteroides and interactions with other microbial genera, like Alistipes, and Faecalibacterium, to the development of IBD. Our proposed method provides a novel and insightful tool for understanding the alteration and stability of the microbiota under disease states and offers a more holistic view of the complex dynamics at play in microbiota-mediated diseases.