When increasing population density can promote the evolution of metabolic cooperation.

ABSTRACT: Microbial cooperation drives ecological and epidemiological processes and is affected by the ecology and demography of populations. Population density influences the selection for cooperation, with spatial structure and the type of social dilemma, namely public-goods production or self-restraint, shaping the outcome. While existing theories predict that in spatially structured environments increasing population density can select either for or against cooperation, experimental studies with both public-goods production and self-restraint systems have only ever shown that increasing population density favours cheats. We suggest that the disparity between theory and empirical studies results from experimental procedures not capturing environmental conditions predicted by existing theories to

SUBMITTER: Lindsay RJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5864216 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature