• Dispersal strategies drive marine microb

    From ScienceDaily@1:317/3 to All on Tue Mar 15 22:30:42 2022
    Dispersal strategies drive marine microbial diversity

    Date:
    March 15, 2022
    Source:
    eLife
    Summary:
    Trade-offs between the benefit of colonizing new particles and the
    risk of being wiped out by predators allow diverse populations of
    marine microbes to exist together, shows a new study.



    FULL STORY ========================================================================== Trade-offs between the benefit of colonising new particles and the risk
    of being wiped out by predators allow diverse populations of marine
    microbes to exist together, shows a study published today in eLife.


    ==========================================================================
    The findings help explain how a vast array of diverse bacteria and
    microbes coexist on floating particle rafts in oceans.

    Microbial foraging in patchy environments, where resources are fragmented
    into particles, plays a key role in natural environments. In oceans and freshwater systems, bacteria and microbes can interact with particle
    surfaces in different ways: some only colonise them for short periods,
    while others form long-lived, stable colonies.

    Scientists have long puzzled over the greater-than-expected diversity
    of microscopic creatures in oceans, a phenomenon called the 'plankton
    paradox'.

    While researchers have begun to understand the factors that support so
    many different types of plankton, many questions remain about the more plentiful ocean microbes that live on floating particles.

    "We wanted to study the role that dispersal strategies play in the
    successful coexistence of different microbes living on the same set of particles," says co-first author Ali Ebrahimi, who completed the study
    while he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Ralph M. Parsons Laboratory
    for Environmental Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, US.

    Ebrahimi and the team used mathematical modelling and computer simulations
    to test how different dispersal strategies may help marine microbes
    exist together in this way. They found that differently navigating the trade-offs between growth and survival can allow microbes to thrive
    together.

    Their model showed that organisms which stay put on a single particle for longer have more opportunities to multiply. However, they face a higher
    risk of being wiped out by a virus or other predator capable of engulfing
    whole particles. On the other hand, microbes that more frequently hop
    between particles have less opportunity to multiply, but also have a
    lower risk of facing a mass mortality event. The success of one strategy
    over another may depend on differing environmental conditions.

    "When the particle supply is high, microbes that hop rapidly between
    them will have a greater chance of survival," explains co-first author
    Akshit Goyal, Physics of Living Systems Fellow at the MIT Department of Physics. "But when particles are harder to come by, the bacteria that
    stay put will have an advantage." Additionally, the team found that coexistence can remain stable in the face of changing environmental
    conditions, such as algal blooms of particles, favouring growth, and
    changing numbers of predators, favouring mortality. Together, these
    differing factors significantly increase the likelihood that populations
    with diverse dispersal strategies can live together.

    "Our work focused on the link between dispersal and mortality in the
    ocean, but there's plenty more going on in these environments," Goyal concludes. "Future research could provide important new insights on
    how environmental changes might impact these minuscule communities and,
    in turn, their wider marine ecosystem." Co-first authors Ebrahimi and
    Goyal worked on this study alongside senior author Otto Cordero, Associate Professor at the MIT Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.


    ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by eLife. Note: Content may be edited
    for style and length.


    ========================================================================== Journal Reference:
    1. Ali Ebrahimi, Akshit Goyal, Otto X Cordero. Particle foraging
    strategies
    promote microbial diversity in marine environments. eLife, 2022;
    11 DOI: 10.7554/eLife.73948 ==========================================================================

    Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/03/220315121440.htm

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