-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: We examine how heterotrophic bacterioplankton communities respond to temperature by mathematically defining two thermally adapted species and showing how changes in environmental temperature affect competitive outcome in a two-resource environment. We did this by adding temperature dependence to both the respiration and uptake terms of a two species, two-resource model rooted in Droop kinetics. We used published literature values and results of our own work with experimental microcosms to parameterize the model and to quantitatively and qualitatively define relationships between temperature and bacterioplankton physiology. Using a graphical resource competition framework, we show how physiological adaptation to temperature can allow organisms to be more, or less, competitive for limiting resources across a thermal gradient (2-34 degrees C). Our results suggest that the effect of temperature on bacterial community composition, and therefore bacterially mediated biogeochemical processes, depends on the available resource pool in a given system. In addition, our results suggest that the often unclear relationship between temperature and bacterial metabolism, as reported in the literature, can be understood by allowing for changes in the relative contribution of thermally adapted populations to community metabolism.
The ISME Journal 06/2008; 2(5):471-81. · 7.38 Impact Factor
-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: Fragmented populations possess an intriguing duplicity: even if subpopulations are reliably extinction-prone, asynchrony in local extinctions and recolonizations makes global persistence possible. Migration is a double-edged sword in such cases: too little migration prevents recolonization of extinct patches, whereas too much synchronizes subpopulations, raising the likelihood of global extinction. Both edges of this proverbial sword have been explored by manipulating the rate of migration within experimental populations. However, few experiments have examined how the evolutionary ecology of fragmented populations depends on the pattern of migration. Here, we show that the migration pattern affects both coexistence and evolution within a community of bacterial hosts (Escherichia coli) and viral pathogens (T4 coliphage) distributed across a large network of subpopulations. In particular, different patterns of migration select for distinct pathogen strategies, which we term 'rapacious' and 'prudent'. These strategies define a 'tragedy of the commons': rapacious phage displace prudent variants for shared host resources, but prudent phage are more productive when alone. We find that prudent phage dominate when migration is spatially restricted, while rapacious phage evolve under unrestricted migration. Thus, migration pattern alone can determine whether a de novo tragedy of the commons is resolved in favour of restraint.
Nature 08/2006; 442(7098):75-8. · 36.28 Impact Factor
-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: Size asymmetry in plant light acquisition complicates predictions of competitive outcomes in light-limited communities. We present a mathematically tractable model of asymmetric competition for light and discuss its implications for predicting outcomes of competition during establishment in two-, three-, and many-species communities. In contrast to the resource-reduction model of symmetric competition for a single resource, the model we present predicts that outcomes of asymmetric competition for light will sometimes depend on the timing of establishment and the consequent hierarchy among species in canopy position. Competitive outcomes in the model depend on the minimum light requirements (L(c)) and self-shading of species lower in the canopy compared to the light available (L(out)(*)) beneath species higher in the canopy. Succession progresses towards species with decreasing values for L(c), but arrested successions occur when initial dominants have relatively high values for L(c) but low values for L(out)(*), leading to founder control. A theoretically limitless number of species may coexist in competition for light when dominance is founder controlled. These model predictions have implications for an array of applied ecological questions, including methods to control invasive species in light-limited restored ecosystems.
Journal of Theoretical Biology 07/2003; 222(4):425-36. · 2.21 Impact Factor
-
Claudia Neuhauser
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: Mathematical models can help to resolve the longstanding question of whether more diverse communities are more stable. Here, I focus on how local dispersal and local interactions--hallmarks of spatial communities--affect stability in a spatially implicit model with demographic stochasticity. The results are based on a novel way to analyze moment equations. The main conclusion is that the type and strength of density-dependent factors, such as fecundity and competition, determine whether local dispersal and local interactions increase or decrease stability. Local dispersal has a stabilizing effect when fecundity is high, interspecific competition is either low or high, and the number of species is small. Effects of local migration on stability are amplified when space is explicit.
Theoretical Population Biology 12/2002; 62(3):297-308. · 1.65 Impact Factor
-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: The determinants of site-to-site variability in the rate of amino acid replacement in alpha/beta-barrel enzyme structures are investigated. Of 125 available alpha/beta-barrel structures, only 25 meet a variety of phylogenetic and statistical criteria necessary to ensure sufficient data for reliable analysis. These 25 enzyme structures (from a wide variety of taxa with diverse lifestyles in diverse habitats) differ greatly in size, number, and topology of domains in addition to the alpha/beta-barrel, quaternary structure, metabolic role, reaction catalyzed, presence of prosthetic groups, regulatory mechanisms, use of cofactors, and catalytic mechanisms. Yet, with the exception of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase, all structures have similar frequency distributions of amino acid replacement rates. Hence, site-specific variability in rates of evolution is largely independent of differences in biology, biochemistry, and molecular structure. A correlation between site-specific rate variation and (1) distance from the active site, (2) solvent accessibility, and (3) treating glycines in unusual main-chain conformations as a separate class, explains approximately half the causal variation. Secondary structure exerts little influence on the pattern and distribution of replacements. Additional domains and subunits, side-chain hydrogen bonds, unusual side-chain rotamers, nonplanar peptide bonds, strained main-chain conformations, and buried hydrophilic-charged residues contribute little to variability among sites because they are rare. Nonlinear models do not improve the fits. In several enzymes, deviations from the typical pattern of replacements suggest the possible action of natural selection. A statistical analysis shows that, in all cases, much of the remaining unexplained variation is not attributable to chance and that other, as yet unidentified, causal relations must exist.
Molecular Biology and Evolution 12/2002; 19(11):1846-64. · 5.55 Impact Factor
