Abstract:
This research addresses the interactions between the unicellular slime mold Physarum polycephalum and a red yeast in a spatial ecosystem over week-long imaging experiments. An inverse relationship between the growth rates of both species is shown, where P. polycephalum has positive growth when the red yeast has a negative growth rate and vice versa. The data also captures successional and oscillatory dynamics between both species. An advanced image analysis methodology for semantic segmentation is used to quantify population density over time, for all components of the ecosystem. We suggest that P. polycephalum is capable of exhibiting a sustainable feeding strategy by depositing a nutritive slime trail, allowing yeast to serve as a periodic food source. This opens a new direction of P. polycephalum research, where the population dynamics of spatial ecosystems can be readily quantified and complex ecological dynamics can be studied.
摘要:
这项研究通过为期一周的成像实验,解决了空间生态系统中单细胞粘液霉菌Physarumpolyphealum与红色酵母之间的相互作用。显示了两种物种的生长速率之间的反比关系,其中当红酵母具有负生长速率时,多脑假单胞菌具有正生长,反之亦然。数据还捕获了两个物种之间的演替和振荡动力学。一种用于语义分割的高级图像分析方法用于量化一段时间内的人口密度,生态系统的所有组成部分。我们建议多头假单胞菌能够通过沉积营养粘液小径来表现出可持续的喂养策略,允许酵母作为定期食物来源。这为多头假单胞菌研究开辟了新的方向,空间生态系统的种群动态可以很容易地量化,复杂的生态动态可以研究。