A central core of the work is highlighting the different nature of niches. When we are interested in evolution of traits for abiotic niches (e.g. pH), co-occuring species will only have impact if there is interaction in resource consumption.

A Concept Using α‐Niche Evolution Within Bacterial Communities to Direct β‐Niche Evolution of Focal Species There is a great need for approaches to control how species evolve in response to environmental changes, particularly in complex microbiomes. The feasibility is often met with scepticism due to the m...

We assembled a perspective work suggesting when and how bacteria evolve while embedded in a complex community. You can find the published version here: enviromicro-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
I would be happy to discuss and get feedback.