Cover photograph (Copyright © 2010, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.): The microbial community harbored in the pitcher-shaped leaves of the carnivorous pale pitcher plant (Sarracenia alata) achieves a predictable and repeatable pattern of diversity and abundance over the plant's growing season. New, unopened leaves observed in March are sterile. Once the leaves open, their microbial abundance and diversity increase from April to July and then decline in August as senescence begins. Leaves from different plants harbor significantly more similar bacterial communities at a given time point than communities of the same genetic host over time. Photo by Margaret Koopman. (See related article on page 1740.)