Nature Communications (Jan 2021)

Limitation by a shared mutualist promotes coexistence of multiple competing partners

  • Sarah P. Hammarlund,
  • Tomáš Gedeon,
  • Ross P. Carlson,
  • William R. Harcombe

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-20922-0
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12, no. 1
pp. 1 – 8

Abstract

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Mutualists benefit their partners by providing resources that would be difficult to obtain independently. Here, the authors show in a bacterial community and with mathematical modeling how a mutualist can promote coexistence between competitors by providing them with different limiting resources.