Description
Identify meaningful differences in microbial abundance
The Microbiome Differential Abundance Practical guides you through the process of identifying microbial features associated with differences between study groups, conditions, or time points.
You will prepare microbiome data for comparison, apply differential-abundance methods, review effect sizes and statistical significance, and account for multiple testing when evaluating results.
This practical emphasizes the compositional nature of microbiome data and the importance of responsible interpretation. You will learn how analytical choices affect the features identified and why statistical associations should not automatically be treated as biological causes.
What you will practice
- Prepare microbiome data for group comparisons
- Define appropriate comparison groups
- Apply a differential-abundance workflow
- Interpret effect sizes and statistical significance
- Account for multiple hypothesis testing
- Review results for consistency and plausibility
- Create clear differential-abundance visualizations
- Communicate findings responsibly
- Build a reproducible analysis workflow
Who this practical is for
This practical is designed for students, researchers, laboratory scientists, and data analysts who want hands-on experience comparing microbial abundance across study groups or conditions.
Familiarity with microbiome community data and basic statistical concepts is recommended. Completing Practical 001: Microbiome Community Profiling and Practical 002: Microbiome Alpha & Beta Diversity first will provide useful preparation.
Complete the microbiome analysis series
Combine this practical with Community Profiling and Alpha & Beta Diversity to build a broader, reproducible microbiome analysis workflow.
