Fig. 1

Competition-colonization trade-off in micro-fabricated habitats. A Schematic showing a section of a patchy landscape. B Fluorescence microscopy image of the patch-corridor motif depicting E. coli (magenta) competing against P. aeruginosa (green). C Monoculture growth of P. aeruginosa strains (solid line; PUPa3-G in green and PUPa3-R in magenta) and E. coli strains (dashed line; JEK1036 in green and JEK1037 in magenta) in well-mixed 96 well-plates. D Two ecological strategies. Curve represents Equation 1 (\(\alpha =4\)) describing the trade-off. E Community dynamics in well-mixed environments represented as P. aeruginosa fractional occupancy, \(\theta \equiv \langle N_P/(N_E+N_P)\rangle\); \(N_P\) and \(N_E\) represent cell counts of P. aeruginosa and E. coli respectively (see 5). P. aeruginosa to E. coli initial inoculation ratio 1:1. F Metacommunity dynamics in patchy landscapes represented as P. aeruginosa fractional occupancy, \(\Theta \equiv \langle \bar{P}/(\bar{E}+\bar{P})\rangle\), calculated as an ensemble average by integrating all 72 landscapes; \(\bar{P}\) and \(\bar{E}\) represent the spatial average occupancy of P. aeruginosa and E. coli, respectively