Direct quantification of ecological drift at the population level in synthetic bacterial communities.

ABSTRACT: In community ecology, drift refers to random births and deaths in a population. In microbial ecology, drift is estimated indirectly via community snapshots but in this way, it is almost impossible to distinguish the effect of drift from the effect of other ecological processes. Controlled experiments where drift is quantified in isolation from other processes are still missing. Here we isolate and quantify drift in a series of controlled experiments on simplified and tractable bacterial communities. We detect drift arising randomly in the populations within the communities and resulting in a 1.4-2% increase in their growth rate variability on average. We further use our experimental findings to simulate complex microbial communities under various conditions of selection and dispersal. We f

SUBMITTER: Fodelianakis S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7852547 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature