Biology Commons^™

Cooperation And Competition Shape Ecological Resistance During Periodic Spatial Disturbance Of Engineered Bacteria, Cortney E. Wilson, Allison J. Lopatkin, Travis J. A. Craddock, William W. Driscoll, Omar T. Eldakar, Jose V. Lopez, Robert P. Smith

Biology Faculty Articles

Cooperation is fundamental to the survival of many bacterial species. Previous studies have shown that spatial structure can both promote and suppress cooperation. Most environments where bacteria are found are periodically disturbed, which can affect the spatial structure of the population. Despite the important role that spatial disturbances play in maintaining ecological relationships, it remains unclear as to how periodic spatial disturbances affect bacteria dependent on cooperation for survival. Here, we use bacteria engineered with a strong Allee effect to investigate how the frequency of periodic spatial disturbances affects cooperation. We show that at intermediate frequencies of spatial disturbance, the …