Influence of metabolic guilds on a temporal scale in an experimental fermented food derived microbial community.

The influence of community diversity, which can be measured at the level of metabolic guilds, on community function is a central question in ecology. Particularly, the long-term temporal dynamic between a community's function and its diversity remains unclear. We investigated the influence of metabolic guild diversity on associated community function by propagating natural microbial communities from a traditionally fermented milk beverage diluted to various levels.

The emergence, maintenance, and demise of diversity in a spatially variable antibiotic regime.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a growing global threat that, in the absence of new antibiotics, requires effective management of existing drugs. Here, we use experimental evolution of the opportunistic human pathogen to explore how changing patterns of drug delivery modulates the spread of resistance in a population. Resistance evolves readily under both temporal and spatial variation in drug delivery and fixes rapidly under temporal, but not spatial, variation.