Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 6, 2026

Studying the Protein Quality Control System of D. discoideum Using Temperature-controlled Live Cell Imaging
Published on: December 2, 2016
The cellular slime mold guild and its bacterial prey: growth rate variation at the inter- and intraspecific levels
Robert M Eisenberg1, L E Hurd1, Robert B Ketcham1
1Ecology Program, School of Life and Health Sciences, University of Delaware, 19716, Newark, DE, USA.
Abstract:
A guild of cellular slime molds (CSM) consisting of two isolates from each of five species, representing two genera, and obtained from the same square meter of forest soil exhibited extensive growth rate variation when tested on a suite of 18 bacteria isolated from the same soil. Significant growth rate differences were found at each taxonomic level examined: among species of different genera, between genera, among species within genera, and between isolates (=clones) within species. The type of bacteria used as prey determined the relative rank of the growth rates in different CSM isolates, as well as the taxonomic level at which significant differences were found. We suggest a possible reconciliation between a previous hypothesis, based on competition, and contradictory experimental work on resource partitioning in this guild of bacterial predators. Our results raise a question about the efficacy of using single genotypes to represent a species when ecological ideas are developed through laboratory investigations.
Related Concept Videos
Diversity of Protists IV
Testing a Claim about Mean: Unknown Population SD
Estimating a population mean requires the samples to be approximately normally distributed. The data should be collected from the randomly selected samples having no sampling bias. There is no specific requirement for sample size. But if the sample size is less than 30, and we don't know the population standard deviation, a different approach is used;...
Speciation Rates
Derivatives: Problem Solving
Microbial Growth Measurement: Indirect Methods
Diversity of Protists III

