Non-target effects of deliberately released organisms into a new environment are of great concern due to their potential impact on the biodiversity and functioning of ecosystems. Whereas these studies often focus on invasive species of macro-organisms, the use of microbial inoculants is often expected to have specific effects on particular functions but negligible overall effects on resident microbial communities. Here, we posit that such introductions often impact native microbial communities, which might influence ecosystem processes. Focusing on soil communities, we used a literature search to examine the impact of microbial inoculation (often the release of beneficial microorganisms in agricultural systems) on resident microbial communities. Of 108 studies analyzed, 86% showed that inoculants modify soil microbial communities in the short or long term. In addition, for studies analyzing the consequences of microbial inoculants in the longer term, 80% did not observe the resilience (return to the initial state) of the resident community following inoculation. Through the knowledge gathered from each study, we propose a synthetic and mechanistic framework explaining how inoculants may alter resident microbial communities. We also identify challenges as well as future approaches to shed more light on this unseen reality.

故意释放的生物对新环境的非目标影响由于其对生物多样性和生态系统功能的潜在影响而备受关注。尽管这些研究通常集中在大型微生物的入侵物种上，但人们通常希望使用微生物接种剂会对特定功能产生特定影响，但对居民微生物群落的总体影响却可以忽略不计。在这里，我们假设这种引入通常会影响本地微生物群落，这可能会影响生态系统过程。着眼于土壤群落，我们使用文献搜索来检验微生物接种（通常是农业系统中有益微生物的释放）对居民微生物群落的影响。在分析的108项研究中，86％的人表明接种物会在短期或长期内改变土壤微生物群落。另外，对于长期分析微生物接种剂后果的研究，接种后80％的接种者未观察到居民社区的适应力（恢复到初始状态）。通过从每项研究中收集的知识，我们提出了一个综合的机制框架，解释了接种物如何改变居民的微生物群落。我们还确定了挑战以及未来的方法，以进一步阐明这一看不见的现实。我们提出了一个综合的机制框架，解释了接种物如何改变居民的微生物群落。我们还确定了挑战以及未来的方法，以进一步阐明这一看不见的现实。我们提出了一个综合的机制框架，解释了接种物如何改变居民的微生物群落。我们还确定了挑战以及未来的方法，以进一步阐明这一看不见的现实。