Emergent coexistence in multispecies microbial communities
This article has been Reviewed by the following groups
Listed in
- Evaluated articles (Arcadia Science)
Abstract
Understanding the mechanisms that maintain microbial biodiversity is a critical aspiration in ecology. Past work on microbial coexistence has largely focused on species pairs, but it is unclear whether pairwise coexistence in isolation is required for coexistence in a multispecies community. To address this question, we conducted hundreds of pairwise competition experiments among the stably coexisting members of 12 different enrichment communities in vitro. To determine the outcomes of these experiments, we developed an automated image analysis pipeline to quantify species abundances. We found that competitive exclusion was the most common outcome, and it was strongly hierarchical and transitive. Because many species that coexist within a stable multispecies community fail to coexist in pairwise co-culture under identical conditions, we concluded that multispecies coexistence is an emergent phenomenon. This work highlights the importance of community context for understanding the origins of coexistence in complex ecosystems.
Article activity feed
-
-
A considerable number of pairs coexisted at a low abundance (coexistence at 5% or 95%, each is 17/171=9.9% and 18/171=10.5%) but we could not detect negative frequency dependence. Interestingly, neutral coexistence among isolated pairs also occurred but was rare, with four pairs of species exhibiting dynamics that did not rule out neutrality
While the authors mention that the fraction of pairs exhibiting exclusion is consistent across communities independently of their richness, is there any pattern between coexistence scenarios highlighted in Figure 3 and community richness?
-
A considerable number of pairs coexisted at a low abundance (coexistence at 5% or 95%, each is 17/171=9.9% and 18/171=10.5%) but we could not detect negative frequency dependence. Interestingly, neutral coexistence among isolated pairs also occurred but was rare, with four pairs of species exhibiting dynamics that did not rule out neutrality
While the authors mention that the fraction of pairs exhibiting exclusion is consistent across communities independently of their richness, is there any pattern between coexistence scenarios highlighted in Figure 3 and community richness?
-
-