Microbes are savvy when contributing to the common good

Microbes vary their contribution to a community to maximise the return on their investment according to a new study led by UCL and the University of Bath.Scientists made the discovery while investigating one of the fundamental questions in biology – why individuals have evolved to cooperate rather than simply exploiting the contributions of their rivals.The study, published in PNAS, found that when microbes are in groups mostly made up of their relatives, they contribute heavily to cooperation, which benefits the group. In contrast, when they are in a group outnumbered by unrelated individuals, they exploit the contributions of the others.