Growth-density inversion in Escherichia coli reveals superlinear, not sublinear ... - Research journals
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E. coli colonies grow faster when crowded — flipping the standard assumption that density slows growth and exposing hidden statistical biases in decades of ecology data.
Density-Dependent SelectionCarrying Capacity (Logistic Growth)Statistical Bias in Ecological InferencePopulation Dynamics
Theory Briefing
- E. coli growth rates rise with density rather than fall, directly contradicting the sublinear density-dependence assumed by most ecological models.
- Most published estimates of density dependence carry underappreciated statistical biases, meaning the field's foundational measurements may be systematically wrong.
- The microbial system used here offers unusually clean inference, exposing how weak the evidence for standard density-dependence theory actually is.
- Superlinear growth at high density challenges carrying-capacity logic — populations may self-accelerate rather than self-limit under crowding.