Microbes may compete with large animal scavengers by producing repugnant chemicals that deter higher species from consuming valuable food resources—such as decaying meat, seeds and fruit, a new study suggests.
…
Hay hopes the research will make ecologists think more critically about the broad role of microbes in the ecosystem. Microbes are often omitted or relegated to a minor role in food web diagrams, but they should be depicted as direct competitors with larger animals, he said.