Bacterial colonization and extinction on marine aggregates

Bacterial colonization and extinction on marine aggregates

Drew Kramer, John Drake and colleagues at Old Dominion University have published a new model for the accumulation of bacterial species on organic aggregates. The goal of the model was to develop a mechanistic understanding of the assembly of microorganism communities on organic aggregates from the perspective of island biogeography theory. A potential application of this model is the calculation of infection risk through exposure to water-borne pathogens on aggregates or in contaminated shellfish.

The paper is published in the open access journal Ecology & Evolution. Read more here.