Abstract
Properties of microbial communities emerge from the interactions between microorganisms and between microorganisms and their environment. At the scale of the organisms, microbial interactions are multi-step processes that are initiated by cell-cell or cell-resource encounters. Quantification and rational design of microbial interactions thus require quantification of encounter rates. Encounter rates can often be quantified through encounter kernels - mathematical formulae that capture the dependence of encounter rates on cell phenotypes, such as cell size, shape, density or motility, and environmental conditions, such as turbulence intensity or viscosity. While encounter kernels have been studied for over a century, they are often not sufficiently considered in descriptions of microbial populations. Furthermore, formulae for kernels are known only in a small number of canonical encounter scenarios. Yet, encounter kernels can guide experimental efforts to control microbial interactions by elucidating how encounter rates depend on key phenotypic and environmental variables. Encounter kernels also provide physically grounded estimates for parameters that are used in ecological models of microbial populations. We illustrate this encounter-oriented perspective on microbial interactions by reviewing traditional and recently identified kernels describing encounters between microorganisms and between microorganisms and resources in aquatic systems. Mehr anzeigen
Persistenter Link
https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000601508Publikationsstatus
publishedExterne Links
Zeitschrift / Serie
Interface FocusBand
Seiten / Artikelnummer
Verlag
Royal SocietyThema
encounter rates; microbial interactions; encounter kernelsOrganisationseinheit
09467 - Stocker, Roman / Stocker, Roman
Förderung
202188 - BioEncounters – where physics encounters microbial ecology (SNF)
955910 - Physics of Microbial Motility (EC)
207488 - The ecological role of bacterial motility in the ocean (SNF)
-180575 - NCCR Microbiomes SNF (SNF)