Scientific and public appreciation for microbes—and the key role their communal actions play in environmental health, food production, and human wellness—has grown in recent years. While initially considered to be static, uniform entities, microbial communities are highly complex and contain internal chemical swapfests that are in constant flux.

Inside the microbial communities that populate our world, microbes are fighting for their lives.

These tiny organisms are in the soil, in the oceans, and in the human body. Microbes play several important roles – they can decompose waste, make oxygen and promote human health.

Within communities, microbes constantly compete with each other for space, nutrients and other resources. Their competitions can occur across multiple spatial scales, whether the microbes are close together or far apart.