Modeling Taxa-Abundance Differential in Microbial Communities Using Environmental Sequence Data

This presentation explores the intricate dynamics of microbial communities, where diverse microorganisms such as bacteria, archaea, and other eukaryotic cells coexist within vast and complex ecosystems. These microbial communities, which form some of the largest and most diverse ecosystems on Earth, are characterized by a wide range of interactions, including predation, mutualism, commensalism, amensalism, and competition. A significant challenge in this field is the measurement of these interactions on a large scale, which requires a sophisticated amalgamation of data analysis and modeling. In our approach, we utilize experimental data reporting the relative abundance of Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs). We chose the generalised Lotka-Volterra model to represent the power-law variations in OTU abundances, implying a multiplicative process in microbial population dynamics, in order to effectively interpret this data.This model fitting enables us to uncover the intrinsic growth rates and delineate the complex interaction network among OTUs, offering insights into the dynamics of microbial ecosystems.

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https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83211788499?pwd=u5LkuwxvmChNaLUt2j5zEBNktsRYSL.1