Competition of two suspension-feeding protozoan populations for a growing bacterial population in continuous culture.
Mathematical studies for ecosystems involving 2 predators competing for a growing prey population have shown that the 2 competitors can coexist in a state of sustained oscillations for a range of values of the system parameters. For the case of 1 suspension-feeding protozoan population, recent experimental observations suggest that the predator-prey interaction is complicated by the ability of the bacteria to grow on products produced by the lysis of protozoan cells. This situation is studied here for the case where 2 suspension-feeding protozoan populations compete for a growing bacterial population in a chemostat. Computer simulations show that the 2 protozoan populations can coexist over a range of the operating parameters. Some necessary conditions for coexistence are presented as are some speculations regarding the possible physical explanations of results.
Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minnesota, 55455, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
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BC
Baltzis
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Fredrickson