Microbial populations hardly ever grow logistically and never sublinearly

J. Camacho-Mateu, A. Lampo, M. Castro, José A. Cuesta

Physical Review E Vol. 111, nº. 4, pp. 044404

Resumen:

We investigate the growth dynamics of microbial populations, challenging the conventional logistic model.
By analyzing empirical data from various biomes, we demonstrate that microbial growth is better described by a generalized logistic model, the θ-logistic model. This accounts for different growth mechanisms and environmental fluctuations, leading to a generalized gamma distribution of abundance fluctuations. Our findings reveal that microbial growth is never sublinear, so they cannot endorse—at least in the microbial world—the recent proposal of this mechanism as a stability enhancer of highly diverse communities. These results have significant implications for understanding macroecological patterns and the stability of microbial ecosystems.

Resumen divulgativo:

Hemos demostrado que los microbios crecen de una manera que desafía los modelos tradicionales, mostrando que su crecimiento siempre está por encima de un cierto nivel y no apoya la idea de que un crecimiento más lento ayuda a estabilizar comunidades diversas.

Palabras Clave: Microbial Growth, Logistic Model, Macroecological Patterns, Environmental Fluctuations

Índice de impacto JCR-JIF y cuartil WoS: 2,500 - Q1 (2025)

Referencia DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.111.044404

Publicado en papel: Abril 2025.

Publicado on-line: Abril 2025.

Cita:
J. Camacho-Mateu, A. Lampo, M. Castro, José A. Cuesta, "Microbial populations hardly ever grow logistically and never sublinearly", Physical Review E, Vol. 111, nº. 4, pp. 044404, Abril 2025. [Online: Abril 2025] doi: 10.1103/PhysRevE.111.044404