Figure 3: Nitrogen dynamics in model communities with and without microbial cheaters. | Nature Communications

Figure 3: Nitrogen dynamics in model communities with and without microbial cheaters.

From: Social dynamics within decomposer communities lead to nitrogen retention and organic matter build-up in soils

Figure 3

(a,c) Temporal dynamics of N pools during litter decomposition. The two dashed lines indicate the times when 60% of C is decomposed. (b) Distributions of N in the remaining litter at 60% C loss in different model scenarios. (d) Microbial community compositions establishing in different model scenarios (shown abundances are time-averaged over model runs). The model is run either without cheaters, that is, with enzyme producers (EP) only (with enzyme production rates, given by the fraction of C uptake after deduction of maintenance respiration, of 0.12 or 0.10), or for mixed communities of enzyme producers and cheaters (Ch) initially consisting of 50% enzyme producers (with enzyme production rates of 0.12) and 50% cheaters (with enzyme production rates of 0.06, 0.04, 0.02 or 0). Filled circles: days until 60% of initial C is decomposed. Filled triangles: ratio of extracellular enzymes to microbial biomass (averaged over time). The initial litter C:N ratio equals 55. Error bars in b and d indicate model stochasticity by displaying s.d.’s among five independent model runs (error bars smaller than symbol size are not displayed).

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