Coexistence of Competing Microbial Strains under Twofold Environmental Variability and Demographic Fluctuations
Microbial populations generally evolve in volatile environments, under conditions fluctuating between harsh and mild, e.g. as the result of sudden changes in toxin concentration or nutrient abundance. Environmental variability (EV) thus shapes the long-time population dynamics, notably by influencin...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2023-01-01
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| Series: | New Journal of Physics |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/ad0d36 |
| _version_ | 1797403383035854848 |
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| author | Matthew Asker Lluís Hernández-Navarro Alastair M Rucklidge Mauro Mobilia |
| author_facet | Matthew Asker Lluís Hernández-Navarro Alastair M Rucklidge Mauro Mobilia |
| author_sort | Matthew Asker |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Microbial populations generally evolve in volatile environments, under conditions fluctuating between harsh and mild, e.g. as the result of sudden changes in toxin concentration or nutrient abundance. Environmental variability (EV) thus shapes the long-time population dynamics, notably by influencing the ability of different strains of microorganisms to coexist. Inspired by the evolution of antimicrobial resistance, we study the dynamics of a community consisting of two competing strains subject to twofold EV. The level of toxin varies in time, favouring the growth of one strain under low drug concentration and the other strain when the toxin level is high. We also model time-changing resource abundance by a randomly switching carrying capacity that drives the fluctuating size of the community. While one strain dominates in a static environment, we show that species coexistence is possible in the presence of EV. By computational and analytical means, we determine the environmental conditions under which long-lived coexistence is possible and when it is almost certain. Notably, we study the circumstances under which environmental and demographic fluctuations promote, or hinder, the strains coexistence. We also determine how the make-up of the coexistence phase and the average abundance of each strain depend on the EV. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T02:38:28Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-810dc5431d1c4bd984416ab85436a8ed |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1367-2630 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T02:38:28Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | New Journal of Physics |
| spelling | doaj.art-810dc5431d1c4bd984416ab85436a8ed2023-12-06T07:37:26ZengIOP PublishingNew Journal of Physics1367-26302023-01-01251212301010.1088/1367-2630/ad0d36Coexistence of Competing Microbial Strains under Twofold Environmental Variability and Demographic FluctuationsMatthew Asker0https://orcid.org/0009-0003-5548-5535Lluís Hernández-Navarro1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7272-7597Alastair M Rucklidge2https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2985-0976Mauro Mobilia3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1424-567XDepartment of Applied Mathematics, School of Mathematics, University of Leeds , Leeds LS2 9JT, United KingdomDepartment of Applied Mathematics, School of Mathematics, University of Leeds , Leeds LS2 9JT, United KingdomDepartment of Applied Mathematics, School of Mathematics, University of Leeds , Leeds LS2 9JT, United KingdomDepartment of Applied Mathematics, School of Mathematics, University of Leeds , Leeds LS2 9JT, United KingdomMicrobial populations generally evolve in volatile environments, under conditions fluctuating between harsh and mild, e.g. as the result of sudden changes in toxin concentration or nutrient abundance. Environmental variability (EV) thus shapes the long-time population dynamics, notably by influencing the ability of different strains of microorganisms to coexist. Inspired by the evolution of antimicrobial resistance, we study the dynamics of a community consisting of two competing strains subject to twofold EV. The level of toxin varies in time, favouring the growth of one strain under low drug concentration and the other strain when the toxin level is high. We also model time-changing resource abundance by a randomly switching carrying capacity that drives the fluctuating size of the community. While one strain dominates in a static environment, we show that species coexistence is possible in the presence of EV. By computational and analytical means, we determine the environmental conditions under which long-lived coexistence is possible and when it is almost certain. Notably, we study the circumstances under which environmental and demographic fluctuations promote, or hinder, the strains coexistence. We also determine how the make-up of the coexistence phase and the average abundance of each strain depend on the EV.https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/ad0d36coexistenceantimicrobial resistancepopulation dynamicsevolutionecologyfluctuations |
| spellingShingle | Matthew Asker Lluís Hernández-Navarro Alastair M Rucklidge Mauro Mobilia Coexistence of Competing Microbial Strains under Twofold Environmental Variability and Demographic Fluctuations New Journal of Physics coexistence antimicrobial resistance population dynamics evolution ecology fluctuations |
| title | Coexistence of Competing Microbial Strains under Twofold Environmental Variability and Demographic Fluctuations |
| title_full | Coexistence of Competing Microbial Strains under Twofold Environmental Variability and Demographic Fluctuations |
| title_fullStr | Coexistence of Competing Microbial Strains under Twofold Environmental Variability and Demographic Fluctuations |
| title_full_unstemmed | Coexistence of Competing Microbial Strains under Twofold Environmental Variability and Demographic Fluctuations |
| title_short | Coexistence of Competing Microbial Strains under Twofold Environmental Variability and Demographic Fluctuations |
| title_sort | coexistence of competing microbial strains under twofold environmental variability and demographic fluctuations |
| topic | coexistence antimicrobial resistance population dynamics evolution ecology fluctuations |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/ad0d36 |
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