scholarly journals Shearing in flow environment promotes evolution of social behavior in microbial populations

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gurdip Uppal ◽  
Dervis Can Vural
Keyword(s):  
Social Behavior ◽  
Public Good ◽  
Large Population ◽  
Reaction Model ◽  
Diffusion Reaction ◽  
Microbial Populations ◽  
Flow Shear ◽  
The Public ◽  
Flow Environment ◽  
Microbial Groups

AbstractIt is advantageous for microbes to form social aggregates when they commonly benefit from secreting a public good. However, cooperating microbial groups can be evolutionarily unstable, since a cheating strain that does not secrete the public good can reproduce quicker and take over. Here we study the effects of fluid advection patterns on group reproduction as a mechanism to enable or enhance social behavior in microbial populations. We use a realistic advection-diffusion-reaction model to describe microbial growth and mutation in a flow environment. Social groups arise naturally from our model as self-reproducing Turing patterns that can avoid mutant takeovers at steady state. Our central finding is that flow shear enables and promotes social behavior in microbes by limiting the spread of cheating strains. Regions of the flow domain with higher shear admits high cooperativity and large population density, whereas low shear regions are devoid of life due to opportunistic mutations.

scholarly journals Shearing in flow environment promotes evolution of social behavior in microbial populations

eLife ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gurdip Uppal ◽  
Dervis Can Vural
Keyword(s):  
Social Behavior ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Cooperative Behavior ◽  
Large Population ◽  
Reaction Model ◽  
Diffusion Reaction ◽  
Evolution Of Cooperation ◽  
Flow Shear ◽  
Major Question ◽  
Flow Domain

How producers of public goods persist in microbial communities is a major question in evolutionary biology. Cooperation is evolutionarily unstable, since cheating strains can reproduce quicker and take over. Spatial structure has been shown to be a robust mechanism for the evolution of cooperation. Here we study how spatial assortment might emerge from native dynamics and show that fluid flow shear promotes cooperative behavior. Social structures arise naturally from our advection-diffusion-reaction model as self-reproducing Turing patterns. We computationally study the effects of fluid advection on these patterns as a mechanism to enable or enhance social behavior. Our central finding is that flow shear enables and promotes social behavior in microbes by increasing the group fragmentation rate and thereby limiting the spread of cheating strains. Regions of the flow domain with higher shear admit high cooperativity and large population density, whereas low shear regions are devoid of life due to opportunistic mutations.

scholarly journals Public cooperation statements

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann-Kathrin Koessler ◽  
Lionel Page ◽  
Uwe Dulleck
Keyword(s):  
Social Behavior ◽  
Public Good ◽  
Behavioral Change ◽  
Institutional Context ◽  
Controlled Environment ◽  
The Public ◽  
Interaction Partners ◽  
Good Setting ◽  
Pro Social Behavior ◽  
Voluntary Cooperation

AbstractCommunication is a well-known tool to promote cooperation and pro-social behavior. In this study, we examine whether minimal communication in form of public consent with a pre-defined cooperation statement is sufficient to strengthen cooperation in groups. Within the controlled environment of a laboratory experiment, we identify ways by which non-enforceable cooperation statements are associated with higher levels of cooperation in a public good setting. At first, the statement triggers selection; socially oriented individuals are more likely to make the cooperation statement. In addition, we can show that a behavioral change takes place once the statement is made. This change can be attributed to commitment arising from the pledge and to increased coordination between the interaction partners. Depending on the institutional context, these drivers can vary in strength. Comparing compulsory and voluntary cooperation statements, we find that both are effective in motivating higher contributions to the public good.

Positional Commitments and the Public Good: Perceptions of a Defecting Group Leader

1999 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark E. Sibicky ◽  
Cortney B. Richardson ◽  
Anna M. Gruntz ◽  
Timothy J. Binegar ◽  
David A. Schroeder ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Good ◽  
Group Leader ◽  
The Public

Finding Fault with the Nexus Pipeline? Agency Capture and the Public Good

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Andrew R. Kear
Keyword(s):  
Natural Gas ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Public Good ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Environmental Impact Statement ◽  
Gas Industry ◽  
The Public ◽  
Fracturing Process ◽  
Natural Gas Industry ◽  
Regulatory Commission

Natural gas is an increasingly vital U.S. energy source that is presently being tapped and transported across state and international boundaries. Controversy engulfs natural gas, from the hydraulic fracturing process used to liberate it from massive, gas-laden Appalachian shale deposits, to the permitting and construction of new interstate pipelines bringing it to markets. This case explores the controversy flowing from the proposed 256-mile-long interstate Nexus pipeline transecting northern Ohio, southeastern Michigan and terminating at the Dawn Hub in Ontario, Canada. As the lead agency regulating and permitting interstate pipelines, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is also tasked with mitigating environmental risks through the 1969 National Environmental Policy Act's Environmental Impact Statement process. Pipeline opponents assert that a captured federal agency ignores public and scientific input, inadequately addresses public health and safety risks, preempts local control, and wields eminent domain powers at the expense of landowners, cities, and everyone in the pipeline path. Proponents counter that pipelines are the safest means of transporting domestically abundant, cleaner burning, affordable gas to markets that will boost local and regional economies and serve the public good. Debates over what constitutes the public good are only one set in a long list of contentious issues including pipeline safety, proposed routes, property rights, public voice, and questions over the scientific and democratic validity of the Environmental Impact Statement process. The Nexus pipeline provides a sobering example that simple energy policy solutions and compromise are elusive—effectively fueling greater conflict as the natural gas industry booms.

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