ABR: Models of natural selection, development, and life history

这个项目将发展关于细菌和其他微生物特征的进化理论。以前的工作表明了食物和其他资源在空间和时间上变化的重要性。例如，连续和可预测的资源环境有利于生长缓慢和有效利用资源的微生物。相比之下，临时资源环境有利于相互竞争激烈、生长迅速、资源利用效率低下的微生物。这些不同的竞争和资源使用模式对周围的生物群落产生了连锁效应。在这项研究中，研究人员将检验关于影响关键微生物特征的主要因素的假设。这项工作需要综合其他领域的不同研究，这项新颖的理论工作有望为解决生态学和进化中的基本问题创造新的方法。了解细菌的特征很重要，因为我们的身体携带着数万亿个细菌。最近的研究表明，这些细菌几乎影响到我们健康的方方面面。除了我们的身体，对土壤、植物生长和生态系统中养分循环的研究也表明，大量不同的细菌和其他微生物也有很强的影响。要了解这些微生物的输入，必须研究影响微生物特征的生态和进化过程。

This project will develop evolutionary theories about the characteristics of bacteria and other microbes. Previous work showed the importance of variability in food and other resources over space and time. For example, continuous and predictable resource environments favor microbes that grow slowly and use resources efficiently. By contrast, temporary resource environments favor microbes that compete strongly among themselves, grow rapidly, and use resources inefficiently. Those different patterns of competition and resource use have cascading effects on the surrounding biological communities. In this research, the investigator will test hypotheses about the primary factors that influence key microbial traits. The work requires synthesis of diverse studies from other fields, and the novel theoretical work is expected to create new approaches to fundamental problems in ecology and evolution. Understanding bacterial characters is important, because our bodies carry trillions of bacteria. Recent research shows that those bacteria influence nearly every aspect of our health. Beyond our bodies, studies of soil, plant growth, and cycling of nutrients through ecosystems also show strong influence by numerous and diverse bacteria and other microbes. To understand those microbial inputs, one must study the ecological and evolutionary processes that have influenced the characteristics of the microbes.