Plant biomass (PB) is an important resource for biofuel production. However, the frequent lack of efficiency of PB saccharification is still an industrial bottleneck. The use of enzyme cocktails produced from PB-degrading microbial consortia (PB-dmc) is a promising approach to optimize this process. Nevertheless, the proper use and manipulation of PB-dmc depends on a sound understanding of the ecological processes and mechanisms that exist in these communities. This Opinion article provides an overview of arguments as to how spatiotemporal nutritional fluxes influence the successional dynamics and ecological interactions (synergism versus competition) between populations in PB-dmc. The themes of niche occupancy, ‘sugar cheaters’, minimal effective consortium, and the Black Queen Hypothesis are raised as key subjects that foster our appraisal of such systems. Here we provide a conceptual framework that describes the critical topics underpinning the ecological basis of PB-dmc, giving a solid foundation upon which further prospective experimentation can be developed.

植物生物量（PB）是生物燃料生产的重要资源。然而，PB糖化效率的经常缺乏仍然是工业瓶颈。使用由降解PB的微生物联盟（PB-dmc）生产的酶混合物是优化该过程的一种有前途的方法。然而，PB-dmc的正确使用和操作取决于对这些社区中存在的生态过程和机制的深刻理解。这篇观点文章概述了时空营养通量如何影响PB-dmc人群之间的演替动态和生态相互作用（协同作用与竞争）。利基占有率的主题，“糖骗子”，最低有效联盟 提出了“黑皇后假说”和“黑皇后假说”，这是促进我们对此类系统进行评估的关键主题。在这里，我们提供了一个概念框架，描述了支持PB-dmc生态基础的关键主题，为进一步的前瞻性实验奠定了坚实的基础。