Figure 5.

Evolutionary dynamics in three-strain communities consisting of BC (squares, dotted line), PA wild type (circles, solid line) and PA cheat (triangles, dashed line). BC was maintained at low frequency when iron availability and spatial structure were both low (a). In this scenario PA cheat could significantly outcompete the PA wild type and thereby buffer the competition between PA and BC. In contrast, species co-existence was neither possible when spatial structure was high (b) nor when iron availability was increased (c). In these scenarios, the PA cheat could not dominate the PA wild type, which led to the extinction of BC within 6 days. Symbols depict individual data points (from 6 replicates), whereas lines represent mean strain frequencies.