Microbial Competition

There are several ways in which organisms can interact, and in complicated systems an organism can interact with several others. It may eat some, for example, while others are trying to eat it. A very important interaction is the competition for living space and for nutrients. In continuous culture it is easy to see what happens when two organisms comptete.

For organism A, it change in concentration is dA/dt = µa A - D A which says that it reproduces at a rate proportional to its concentration and washes out at a rate determined by the dilution rate, D.

The analogous equation for B is dB/dt = µb B - D B .

If one concentration, say that of A, reaches steady state, then dA/dt becomes zero and µa must equal D. This means that dB/dt cannot also equal zero except in the very rare case when they have the same µ. When the assumption of perfect mixing holds, the organism that grows most rapidly must win out while the other must wash out. Eventually only one can be present. You can experiment with the sugar concentration, dilution rate, and the growth rate coefficients with the following Java applet. These organisms compete for sugar. Organism A starts out alone in pure culture, and Organism B is introduced a short time later.
 


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