scholarly journals Alternative stable states in a model of microbial community limited by multiple essential nutrients

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Veronika Dubinkina ◽  
Yulia Fridman ◽  
Parth Pratim Pandey ◽  
Sergei Maslov
Keyword(s):  
Microbial Communities ◽  
Alternative Stable States ◽  
Environmental Parameters ◽  
Stable Marriage ◽  
Stable Marriage Problem ◽  
Stable States ◽  
Essential Nutrients ◽  
Carbon And Nitrogen ◽  
The Stable Marriage Problem ◽  
Specialist Species

Microbial communities routinely have several alternative stable states observed for the same environmental parameters. Sudden and irreversible transitions between these states make external manipulation of these systems more complicated. To better understand the mechanisms and origins of multistability in microbial communities, we introduce and study a model of a microbial ecosystem colonized by multiple specialist species selected from a fixed pool. Growth of each species can be limited by essential nutrients of two types, e.g. carbon and nitrogen, each represented in the environment by multiple metabolites. We demonstrate that our model has an exponentially large number of potential stable states realized for different environmental parameters. Using game theoretical methods adapted from the stable marriage problem we predict all of these states based only on ranked lists of competitive abilities of species for each of the nutrients. We show that for every set of nutrient influxes, several mutually uninvadable stable states are generally feasible and we distinguish them based upon their dynamic stability. We further explore an intricate network of discontinuous transitions (regime shifts) between these alternative states both in the course of community assembly, or upon changes of nutrient influxes.

scholarly journals Multiple stable states in microbial communities explained by the stable marriage problem

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Akshit Goyal ◽  
Veronika Dubinkina ◽  
Sergei Maslov
Keyword(s):  
Microbial Communities ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Species Abundance ◽  
State Transitions ◽  
Stable Marriage ◽  
Stable Marriage Problem ◽  
Stable States ◽  
Marriage Problem ◽  
The Stable Marriage Problem ◽  
Multiple Stable States

AbstractExperimental studies of microbial communities routinely reveal that they have multiple stable states. While each of these states is generally resilient, certain perturbations such as antibiotics, probiotics and diet shifts, result in transitions to other states. Can we reliably both predict such stable states as well as direct and control transitions between them? Here we present a new conceptual model — inspired by the stable marriage problem in game theory and economics — in which microbial communities naturally exhibit multiple stable states, each state with a different species’ abundance profile. Our model’s core ingredient is that microbes utilize nutrients one at a time while competing with each other. Using only two ranked tables, one with microbes’ nutrient preferences and one with their competitive abilities, we can determine all possible stable states as well as predict inter-state transitions, triggered by the removal or addition of a specific nutrient or microbe. Further, using an example of 7 Bacteroides species common to the human gut utilizing 9 polysaccharides, we predict that mutual complementarity in nutrient preferences enables these species to coexist at high abundances.

scholarly journals Multistability and regime shifts in microbial communities explained by competition for essential nutrients

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Veronika Dubinkina ◽  
Yulia Fridman ◽  
Parth Pratim Pandey ◽  
Sergei Maslov
Keyword(s):  
Microbial Communities ◽  
Environmental Parameters ◽  
Nutrient Supply ◽  
Regime Shifts ◽  
Explicit Model ◽  
Stable States ◽  
Matching Problem ◽  
Essential Nutrients ◽  
Theoretical Methods ◽  
Main Determinants

Microbial communities routinely have several possible species compositions or community states observed for the same environmental parameters. Changes in these parameters can trigger abrupt and persistent transitions (regime shifts) between such community states. Yet little is known about the main determinants and mechanisms of multistability in microbial communities. Here we introduce and study a resource-explicit model in which microbes compete for two types of essential nutrients. We adapt game-theoretical methods of the stable matching problem to identify all possible species compositions of a microbial community. We then classify them by their resilience against three types of perturbations: fluctuations in nutrient supply, invasions by new species, and small changes of abundances of existing ones. We observe multistability and explore an intricate network of regime shifts between stable states in our model. Our results suggest that multistability requires microbial species to have different stoichiometries of essential nutrients. We also find that balanced nutrient supply promote multistability and species diversity yet make individual community states less stable.

scholarly journals Multistability and regime shifts in microbial communities explained by competition for essential nutrients

eLife ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Veronika Dubinkina ◽  
Yulia Fridman ◽  
Parth Pratim Pandey ◽  
Sergei Maslov
Keyword(s):  
Microbial Communities ◽  
Environmental Parameters ◽  
Nutrient Supply ◽  
Regime Shifts ◽  
Stable States ◽  
Resource Model ◽  
Matching Problem ◽  
Essential Nutrients ◽  
Main Determinants ◽  
Consumer Resource

Microbial communities routinely have several possible species compositions or community states observed for the same environmental parameters. Changes in these parameters can trigger abrupt and persistent transitions (regime shifts) between such community states. Yet little is known about the main determinants and mechanisms of multistability in microbial communities. Here, we introduce and study a consumer-resource model in which microbes compete for two types of essential nutrients each represented by multiple different metabolites. We adapt game-theoretical methods of the stable matching problem to identify all possible species compositions of such microbial communities. We then classify them by their resilience against three types of perturbations: fluctuations in nutrient supply, invasions by new species, and small changes of abundances of existing ones. We observe multistability and explore an intricate network of regime shifts between stable states in our model. Our results suggest that multistability requires microbial species to have different stoichiometries of essential nutrients. We also find that a balanced nutrient supply promotes multistability and species diversity, yet make individual community states less stable.

Improved approximation results for the stable marriage problem

2007 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Magnús M. Halldórsson ◽  
Kazuo Iwama ◽  
Shuichi Miyazaki ◽  
Hiroki Yanagisawa
Keyword(s):  
Stable Marriage ◽  
Stable Marriage Problem ◽  
Marriage Problem ◽  
The Stable Marriage Problem

scholarly journals Microbial communities display alternative stable states in a fluctuating environment

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. e1007934
Author(s):  
Clare I. Abreu ◽  
Vilhelm L. Andersen Woltz ◽  
Jonathan Friedman ◽  
Jeff Gore
Keyword(s):  
Microbial Communities ◽  
Alternative Stable States ◽  
Stable States ◽  
Fluctuating Environment
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