Dynamics of a chemostat in which one microbial population feeds on another
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 4, 2026

The Use of Chemostats in Microbial Systems Biology
Published on: October 14, 2013
1Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Patras, Patras 26110, Greece.
Abstract:
Under certain simplifying hypotheses, a chemostat in which one microbial population feeds on another can be described by a system of three ordinary differential equations. A study is conducted to find which features of the equations are the most important to the dynamics of the system; it is found that the main influence comes from the from the particular form of the specific growth rate of the feeding population. Some conditions are derived that relate the form of the specific growth rate of the feeding population to the dynamic behaviour of the system.
Related Concept Videos
Population Growth
Batch vs Continuous Culture
Microbial Nutrition
Marine Microbial Ecology
Microbial Interactions: Competition
Metabolism of Chemolithotrophs

