By focusing on the relationship between the number of species in the network (its “diversity”) and the stability of the network itself, Ma and Ellison provide a new way of thinking about a classic ecological problem (the relationship between species diversity and the stability of an ecosystem).　　

　　The relevance and immediate application of Ma and Ellison’s approach is a clearer understanding of the description and progress of infectious diseases. Many common diseases, including periodontitis, bacterial vaginosis, inflammatory bowel disease, gout, and depression are associated with changes in the diversity and stability of our own microbial ecosystem – the “microbiome.”　　

　　In their paper, Ma and Ellison applied their analytical method to data from the Human Microbiome Project to provide new insights into the medical ecology and etiology of bacterial vaginosis and a potentially better index for distinguishing between healthy and diseased microbiomes.