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Environmental and ecological controls of the spatial distribution of microbial populations in aggregates

Fig 4

Competition [–,–,–].

(A) Relative abundances of B1, B2 and B3 populations in the community. Dashed red lines indicate 33.33% and 66.66% relative abundances. (B) Microbial fitness (median, ) is calculated in all replicates (n = 3 for 1.0 mM and 0.5 mM; n = 6 for 0.2 mM and 0.1 mM). Asterisks indicate the significance level of the difference between the specific growth rate of B1, B2 and B3 populations. (C) Aggregates captured at steady state (50 d for 1.0 mM and 0.5 mM, 75 d for 0.2 mM and 0.1 mM). Inactive bacteria are shown in a lighter colour. Black solid lines on bottom represent the scale bars. (D) Average relative size of colonies (with respect to the total perimeter of the aggregate) is calculated in all replicates (n = 3 for 1.0 mM and 0.5 mM; n = 6 for 0.2 mM and 0.1 mM). Asterisks indicate the significance level of the difference between substrates concentrations. Significance level legend: ns, not significant; *, p < 0.05; **, p < 0.01; ***, p < 0.001.

doi: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1010807.g004