Chemical warfare at small scales: does eukaryotic chemical defense theory fit biofilms?

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The ecology of bacteria has long been treated separately from the ecology of higher organisms. Thus we do not know whether the ecology of bacteria operates by the same general rules as those of plants and animals. This significantly diminishes our understanding of the natural world, and our capacity to manage our environment. In this project we will systematically test ecological defense theories in bacterial systems. Our aim is to merge our understanding of the ecology of these very different organisms. This integration of plant and animal ecology and environmental microbiology is new for both fields, and thus studies such as this one have the potential to put Australia at the forefront of this exciting new approach to our environment.