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Monitoring Spatial Segregation in Surface Colonizing Microbial Populations
Published on: October 29, 2016
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A Generalized Spatial Measure for Resilience of Microbial Systems
Ryan S Renslow1, Stephen R Lindemann2, Hyun-Seob Song2
1Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland WA, USA.
Frontiers in Microbiology
|April 20, 2016
Summary
We introduce a new spatial metric, perturbation-adjusted spatial metric of resilience (PASMORE), to measure system resilience. This metric can assess resilience across various disturbance types, offering a more versatile alternative to recovery time in microbial systems.
Area of Science:
- Ecology
- Microbial Ecology
- Systems Biology
Background:
- Resilience quantifies a system's ability to recover from disturbances, serving as an early warning for catastrophic shifts.
- Measuring resilience via recovery time is challenging in microbial systems.
- Existing spatial metrics like recovery length are limited to step-change perturbations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To propose a generalized spatial metric for resilience applicable to diverse perturbation profiles.
- To introduce the perturbation-adjusted spatial metric of resilience (PASMORE).
Main Methods:
- Developed a novel spatial metric, PASMORE, extending the concept of recovery length.
- Applied PASMORE to a mathematical model of a microbial mat to demonstrate its utility.
Main Results:
- PASMORE provides a flexible spatial measure of resilience.
- The metric is applicable to various perturbation shapes, including smooth gradients.
- Demonstrated PASMORE's effectiveness using a microbial mat model.
Conclusions:
- PASMORE offers a more general and adaptable spatial approach to quantifying resilience.
- This metric enhances the assessment of microbial system stability and potential collapse.
- PASMORE advances ecological modeling by providing a robust resilience measurement tool.
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