Print Email Facebook Twitter Bacterial predator–prey dynamics in microscale patchy landscapes Title Bacterial predator–prey dynamics in microscale patchy landscapes Author Hol, F.J.H. (TU Delft BN/Cees Dekker Lab; Kavli institute of nanoscience Delft) Rotem, Or (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem) Jurkevitch, Edouard (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem) Dekker, C. (TU Delft BN/Cees Dekker Lab; Kavli institute of nanoscience Delft) Koster, D. (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem) Date 2016-02-10 Abstract Soil is a microenvironment with a fragmented (patchy) spatial structure in which many bacterial species interact. Here, we explore the interaction between the predatory bacterium Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus and its prey Escherichia coli in microfabricated landscapes. We ask how fragmentation influences the prey dynamics at the microscale and compare two landscape geometries: a patchy landscape and a continuous landscape. By following the dynamics of prey populations with high spatial and temporal resolution for many generations, we found that the variation in predation rates was twice as large in the patchy landscape and the dynamics was correlated over shorter length scales.We also found that while the prey population in the continuous landscapewas almost entirely driven to extinction, a significant part of the prey population in the fragmented landscape persisted over time. We observed significant surface-associated growth, especially in the fragmented landscape and we surmise that this sub-population is more resistant to predation. Our results thus show that microscale fragmentation can significantly influence bacterial interactions. Subject Bdellovibrio bacteriovorusMetapopulationNanofabricated landscapesPredator–prey To reference this document use: http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:d4fbf3df-25eb-4dfa-8ab5-c9fac3549847 DOI https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2015.2154 Embargo date 2017-02-10 ISSN 0962-8452 Source Royal Society of London. Proceedings B. Biological Sciences, 283 (1824), 1-9 Bibliographical note Accepted Author Manuscript Part of collection Institutional Repository Document type journal article Rights © 2016 F.J.H. Hol, Or Rotem, Edouard Jurkevitch, C. Dekker, D. Koster Files PDF Hol_RevisedMS03.pdf 416.8 KB Close viewer /islandora/object/uuid:d4fbf3df-25eb-4dfa-8ab5-c9fac3549847/datastream/OBJ/view