Competition: Evidence
Evidence for Competition
1) in soil organic matter is dispersed through the sand and clay particles. The spaces also contain air and water. Microbes are mostly found associated with organic fractions in the 3 dimensional lattice. In soil we find approximately 10 5 microbes per gram of soil.
2) the fluid in the stomach of a cow contains approximately 10 8 cells per ml. Here, the microbes float freely and are attached to fragments of organic matter.
In other words, microbes are commonly packed closely together.
Most of these microbes are heterotrophic. Most of the microbes in these two examples use extracellular digestion, though some that use phagocytosis are also present. Because the cells are so close together, the breakdown products of digestion are available to the neighbouring cells. They are competing for the nutrients.
Question1
