Cascading transitions precede the collapse of a methanogenic ecosystem

In this study, we show that a cascade of early warning signals precedes the collapse of a methanogenic ecosystem under increasing stress of organic loading. These warning signals manifest as a series of local transitions involving significant shifts in the dynamics of 250 microbial species, 135 metabolites, 58 network properties, and 48 core biochemical reactions crucial for methanogenesis over a 46-day perturbation experiment