Microbial Dormancy Supports Multi‐Species Coexistence Under Resource Fluctuations
ABSTRACT The ability for microbes to enter dormant states is adaptive under resource fluctuations and has been linked to the maintenance of diversity. Nevertheless, the mechanism by which microbial dormancy gives rise to the density‐dependent feedbacks required for stable coexistence under resource...
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Published in | Ecology letters Vol. 27; no. 9; pp. e14507 - n/a |
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Main Authors | , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
England
Blackwell Publishing Ltd
01.09.2024
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Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | ABSTRACT
The ability for microbes to enter dormant states is adaptive under resource fluctuations and has been linked to the maintenance of diversity. Nevertheless, the mechanism by which microbial dormancy gives rise to the density‐dependent feedbacks required for stable coexistence under resource fluctuations is not well understood. Via analysis of consumer‐resource models, we show that the stable coexistence of dormancy and non‐dormancy strategists is a consequence of the former benefiting more from resource fluctuations while simultaneously reducing overall resource variability, which sets up the requisite negative frequency dependence. Moreover, we find that dormants can coexist alongside gleaner and opportunist strategies in a competitive‐exclusion‐defying case of three species coexistence on a single resource. This multi‐species coexistence is typically characterised by non‐simple assembly rules that cannot be predicted from pairwise competition outcomes. The diversity maintained via this three‐way trade‐off represents a novel phenomenon that is ripe for further theoretical and empirical inquiry.
The mechanism by which microbial dormancy gives rise to the density‐dependent feedbacks required for stable coexistence under resource fluctuations is not well understood. We show that the stable coexistence of dormancy and non‐dormancy strategists can emerge via relative nonlinearity of competition and that dormants can coexist alongside gleaner and opportunist strategies in a case of three species coexistence on a single resource. This novel phenomenon is ripe for further theoretical and empirical inquiry. |
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Bibliography: | Funding This work was supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (19K16223, 20KK0169, 21H02560, 22H02688, 22H04983), Taiwan Ministry of Education (MOE‐11‐YSFAG‐0003‐001‐P1), Taiwan National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) (MOST 111‐2621‐B‐002‐001‐MY3), MEXT, Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), (JPMJCR23N5) and the Australian Research Council (DE230100373, DP220102040, DP220103350). ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 ObjectType-Correspondence-3 content type line 23 |
ISSN: | 1461-023X 1461-0248 1461-0248 |
DOI: | 10.1111/ele.14507 |