7. Conclusions

The study of microbial ecosystems in cheeses has a number of advantages: of course, an understanding of how they function should facilitate the development of ferments or the management of more efficient practices and product control, but above all, they are an excellent model for studying the functioning of microbial communities. Composed mainly of cultivable micro-organisms, with limited complexity (50 to 100 different strains of micro-organisms per type of cheese), these ecosystems are ideal for studying general ecological concepts, such as the system's resistance to contamination by undesirable micro-organisms, or the ecosystem's resilience to disturbances. In addition, this study enables us to approach the functionalities of the microorganisms that make up the ecosystem to such an extent that in 2014 Wolfe et al.