Trade-offs and coexistence in microbial microcosms.
Trade-offs among the abilities of organisms to respond to different environmental factors are often assumed to play a major role in the coexistence of species. There has been extensive theoretical study of the role of such trade-offs in ecological communities but it has proven difficult to study such trade-offs experimentally. Microorganisms are ideal model systems with which to experimentally study the causes and consequences of ecological trade-offs. In model communities of E. coli B and T-type bacteriophage, a trade-off in E. coli between resistance to bacteriophage and competitive ability is often observed. This trade-off can allow the coexistence of different ecological types of E. coli. The magnitude of this trade-off affects, in predictable ways, the structure, dynamics and response to environmental change of these communities. Genetic factors, environmental factors, and gene-by-environment interactions determine the magnitude of this trade-off. Environmental control of the magnitude of trade-offs represents one avenue by which environmental change can alter community properties such as invasability, stability and coexistence.
Bohannan
Brendan J M
BJ
Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford University, CA 94305-5029, USA. bohannan@stanford.edu
Kerr
Ben
B
Jessup
Christine M
CM
Hughes
Jennifer B
JB
Sandvik
Gunnar
G
D003090:Coliphages / Q000235:genetics / Q000472:pathogenicity / Q000502:physiology*; D017753:Ecosystem; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics / Q000821:virology*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D008954:Models, Biological; D013604:T-Phages / Q000235:genetics / Q000472:pathogenicity / Q000502:physiology