Communities of interacting microorganisms play important roles across all habitats on Earth.
These communities typically consist of a large number of species that perform different …

Identifying the roles played by individual heterotrophic bacteria in the degradation of high
molecular weight (HMW) substrates is critical to understanding the constraints on carbon …

Most bacteria live in dense, spatially structured communities such as biofilms. The high
density allows cells to alter the local microenvironment, whereas the limited mobility can …

Microbial secretions, such as metabolic enzymes, are often considered to be cooperative
public goods as they are costly to produce but can be exploited by others. They create …

Understanding how microbial traits affect the evolution and functioning of microbial
communities is fundamental for improving the management of harmful microorganisms …

Cooperation is associated with major transitions in evolution such as the emergence of
multicellularity. It is central to the evolution of many complex traits in nature, including growth …

A cornerstone of classical virulence evolution theories is the assumption that pathogen
growth rate is positively correlated with virulence, the amount of damage pathogens inflict on …

In spatially structured microbial communities, clonal growth of stationary cells passively
generates clusters of related individuals. This can lead to stable cooperation without the …

Microorganisms colonizing plant roots co-exist in complex, spatially structured multispecies
biofilm communities. However, little is known about microbial interactions and the underlying …

Developing mathematical models to accurately predict microbial growth dynamics remains a
key challenge in ecology, evolution, biotechnology, and public health. To reproduce and …