Details of Award

NERC Reference : NER/T/S/2002/00166

Scale dependent modelling of community assembly in microbe populations.

Principal Investigator:: Professor WT Sloan, University of Glasgow, Civil Engineering
Co-Investigator:: Professor TP Curtis, Newcastle University, Sch of Engineering
Co-Investigator:: Dr S Nee, University of Edinburgh, Sch of Biological Sciences
Co-Investigator:: Professor I Head, Newcastle University, Sch of Natural & Environmental Sciences
Grant held at:: University of Glasgow, Civil Engineering

Abstract:: Microbial communities are ubiquitous and fundamental in everything from wastewater treatment to productivity of soil, seas through to freshwater and disease. However, the assembly of large communities in natural environments is poorly understood. Difficulty in identifying species means that even fundamental descriptors such as the diversity remain unmeasured. There is a desperate need for theoretical models of naturally occurring assemblages that can be tested using variables that micro-biologists can measure. We are proposing to implement a stochastic model for microbial populations that is more commonly applied in macro-scale ecology. The model as it stands assumes self-similarity in the resource `landscape?, which will only be true at certain scales. We will research methods of relaxing this assumption, thus making the model more applicable over a range of scales.

Authorised funds only

This grant award has a total value of £49,346

Total - T&S	Total - Staff	Total - Other Costs	Total - Indirect Costs	Total - Equipment
£3,017	£26,983	£2,722	£12,412	£4,212

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