Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 9, 2026

Monitoring Spatial Segregation in Surface Colonizing Microbial Populations
Published on: October 29, 2016
Landau and Lifshitz' formulation of Le Chatelier's principle: an insight into symbiosis?
1Department of Physics, Institute for Condensed Matter Theory, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1110 West Green Street, MC-704, Urbana, IL, 61801-3080, USA, halabi.tarek@mgh.harvard.edu.
Abstract:
A correspondence allows application of Landau and Lifshitz' formulation of Le Chatelier's principle from statistical physics to a simple 2-D model of biological symbiosis. The insight: symbionts stabilize the occupation of narrow peaks on fitness landscape.
Related Concept Videos
Le Chatelier's Principle: Changing Temperature
To understand this phenomenon, consider the elementary reaction:
Le Chatelier's Principle: Changing Concentration
Symbiosis
The Response of Equilibria to the Conditions
Le Chatelier's Principle: Changing Volume (Pressure)
Microbial Interactions: Mutualism

