T. Clegg

Bacterial responses to complex mixtures of chemical pollutants

The paper examines bacterial responses to complex chemical mixtures and finds that interactions between pollutants influence growth in ways not predictable from individual chemical effects.

Variation in thermal physiology can drive the temperature-dependence of microbial community richness

The paper develops a theory explaining microbial community richness temperature dependence by linking it to variation in thermal performance curves of metabolic traits across species.

The role of competition versus cooperation in microbial community coalescence

This study uses a consumer-resource model to show that less competitive and more cooperative microbial communities dominate coalescence outcomes and evolve to be more species-rich and efficient.

A shift from competition to facilitation amplifies the temperature-dependence of microbial community respiration

The paper develops a mathematical model predicting increased thermal sensitivity of microbial respiration with shifts from competition to facilitation, validated experimentally in bacterial communities.

Systematic variation in the temperature dependence of bacterial carbon use efficiency

The paper experimentally characterizes the temperature dependence of bacterial carbon use efficiency (CUE) across diverse isolates, finding that CUE often increases or shows no response with temperature, challenging the common assumption of a negative relationship.