Figure 1. Salinity, growth rates and population dynamics for two time series with different environmental autocorrelations.

a. Times series number 19 for ancestral genotype AC and autocorrelation 0. b. Times series number 22 for ancestral genotype AC and autocorrelation 0.9. For the population growth rate, colors indicate whether growth rate compensates (blue, r > 0.542) or not (red) the bi-weekly dilution. Population size estimates and standard errors from the reverse gamma fit (solid line and ribbon) are represented together with the three raw measurements at each transfer (dots): cytometer counts (black), fluorescence (dark gray) and optical density (light gray). c. Estimated logistic population dynamics during transfers 14 to 19 (days 49 to 76), accounting for the biweekly dilution (arrows down). Red points and error bars correspond to the estimates and standard error for population size fitted in the model. Note that even when the population reaches high densities (here > 2.10⁵, while carrying capacity is estimated around 10⁶), the biweekly 15% dilution leads to nearly exponential growth after each transfer. The colored straight lines materialize the exponential phase, over which the population grows at rate r, the intrinsic rate of increase, colored in the same way as in the times series of r above.