FIG 5.

Salvagers are protected from overexploitation. (A) Growth rates of Sal^GB-1 (blue) and Dep^GB-1 (gray) when cultured alone in glycerol minimal medium with various additions (10 nM each). Technical precision of growth rate estimates: approximately ± 0.025 h⁻¹ (see Materials and Methods for details). (B) Growth yields after 24 h of cocultured salvagers (Sal or Sal^GB-1, blue) and dependents (Dep or Dep^GB-1, gray) in glycerol minimal medium supplemented with Cbi (10 nM) and DMB (10 nM). Initial ratio: 1:1. In panels A and B, global means are shown as open circles, and biological replicates are dots (N = 3). (C) Population ratio (green dots) as function of transfer for cocultured salvagers (Sal or Sal^GB-1) and dependents (Dep or Dep^GB-1) undergoing daily 1:100 (vol/vol) proliferation-dilution cycles in glycerol minimal medium supplemented with Cbi (10 nM) and DMB (10 nM). Solid green lines connect individual cultures through subsequent transfers. Gray areas mark transfer-specific estimates of population ratio detection limits (for details see Materials and Methods) (N = 3).