Light-driven synchrony of Prochlorococcus growth and mortality in the subtropical Pacific gyre

Theoretical studies predict that competition for limited resources reduces biodiversity to the point of ecological instability, whereas strong predator/prey interactions enhance the number of coexisting species and limit fluctuations in abundances. In open ocean ecosystems, competition for low availability of essential nutrients results in relatively few abundant microbial species. The remarkable stability in overall cell abundance of the...