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Microbiota of the indoor environment: a meta-analysis

Overview of attention for article published in Microbiome, October 2015
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About this Attention Score

  • In the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (93rd percentile)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (81st percentile)

Mentioned by

news
1 news outlet
policy
1 policy source
twitter
27 X users
facebook
2 Facebook pages
wikipedia
2 Wikipedia pages

Citations

dimensions_citation
217 Dimensions

Readers on

mendeley
438 Mendeley
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Title
Microbiota of the indoor environment: a meta-analysis
Published in
Microbiome, October 2015
DOI 10.1186/s40168-015-0108-3
Pubmed ID
Authors

Rachel I. Adams, Ashley C. Bateman, Holly M. Bik, James F. Meadow

Abstract

As modern humans, we spend the majority of our time in indoor environments. Consequently, environmental exposure to microorganisms has important implications for human health, and a better understanding of the ecological drivers and processes that impact indoor microbial assemblages will be key for expanding our knowledge of the built environment. In the present investigation, we combined recent studies examining the microbiota of the built environment in order to identify unifying community patterns and the relative importance of indoor environmental factors. Ultimately, the present meta-analysis focused on studies of bacteria and archaea due to the limited number of high-throughput fungal studies from the indoor environment. We combined 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene datasets from 16 surveys of indoor environments conducted worldwide, additionally including 7 other studies representing putative environmental sources of microbial taxa (outdoor air, soil, and the human body). Combined analysis of subsets of studies that shared specific experimental protocols or indoor habitats revealed community patterns indicative of consistent source environments and environmental filtering. Additionally, we were able to identify several consistent sources for indoor microorganisms, particularly outdoor air and skin, mirroring what has been shown in individual studies. Technical variation across studies had a strong effect on comparisons of microbial community assemblages, with differences in experimental protocols limiting our ability to extensively explore the importance of, for example, sampling locality, building function and use, or environmental substrate in structuring indoor microbial communities. We present a snapshot of an important scientific field in its early stages, where studies have tended to focus on heavy sampling in a few geographic areas. From the practical perspective, this endeavor reinforces the importance of negative "kit" controls in microbiome studies. From the perspective of understanding mechanistic processes in the built environment, this meta-analysis confirms that broad factors, such as geography and building type, structure indoor microbes. However, this exercise suggests that individual studies with common sampling techniques may be more appropriate to explore the relative importance of subtle indoor environmental factors on the indoor microbiome.

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 27 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 438 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
United States 8 2%
Portugal 1 <1%
Malaysia 1 <1%
Germany 1 <1%
Estonia 1 <1%
United Kingdom 1 <1%
Unknown 425 97%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Ph. D. Student 87 20%
Researcher 83 19%
Student > Bachelor 59 13%
Student > Master 45 10%
Student > Doctoral Student 21 5%
Other 65 15%
Unknown 78 18%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 108 25%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 62 14%
Environmental Science 36 8%
Engineering 30 7%
Immunology and Microbiology 28 6%
Other 73 17%
Unknown 101 23%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 31. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 17 May 2022.
All research outputs
#1,265,489
of 25,452,734 outputs
Outputs from Microbiome
#408
of 1,764 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#18,361
of 291,483 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Microbiome
#5
of 22 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,452,734 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 95th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 1,764 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 38.2. This one has done well, scoring higher than 76% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 291,483 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 93% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 22 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done well, scoring higher than 81% of its contemporaries.