Experimental Evolution of Synthetic Microbial Communities

Synthetic communities contain microbial species that perform specific functions. But they often fail to establish - and perform these functions - in natural environments. This thesis shows that coevolving species in the environment they are expected to flourish, protects vulnerable species from invasion and infection. Specifically, coevolution in a simple environment promotes community stability by preventing invasion from other species, and the presence of a community in a complex environment protects against bacterial predators, bacteriophage. Altogether, this work contributes to better understanding multi-species ecology and evolution and provides a framework for designing stable synthetic communities.