Modeling microbial diversity - a podcast by Michael Haack

Metagenomics has revealed hundreds to thousands of microbial species
coexisting in almost all microbiota. It is increasingly appreciatedthat microbial communities condition their own environments.
To better understand the role of this environmental conditioning inpromoting diversity, we physically model the population dynamics of
microbes that compete for steadily supplied resources. In a modelwhere cells require multiple nutrients, we find that population dynamics
generally leads to the coexistence of different metabolic types,which satisfy an extended competitive exclusion principle. Moreover,
we establish that these consortia of metabolic types act as cartels,whereby population dynamics pins down resource concentrations at
values for which no other strategy can invade. Strikingly, these cartelsalso yield maximum biomass, constituting a microbial example
of Adam Smith’s “invisible hand” leading to collective optimal usageof resources. Curiously, in a model where only total resource acquisition
is considered, diversity can arbitrarily exceed that predicted bythe competitive exclusion principle.

Further episodes of Sommerfeld Theory Colloquium (ASC)

Further podcasts by Michael Haack

Website of Michael Haack