Network-level containment of single-species bioengineering

Abstract

Ecological systems are facing major diversity losses in this century due to Anthropogenic effects. Habitat loss, overexploitation of resources, invasion and pollution are rapidly jeopardising the survival of whole communities, as revealed by pronounced population losses. Moreover, the potential of future tipping points further complicate their survival and change our perspective of risk. It has been recently suggested that a potential approach to flatten the curve of species extinction and prevent catastrophic shifts would involve the engineering of one selected species within one of these communities, aiming at helping the maintenance of key conditions compatible with high diversity. Such possibility has started to become part of potential intervention scenarios to preserve coral reefs, kelp forests or soil microbiomes in drylands. Despite its potential, very little is known about the actual dynamic responses of complex ecological networks to the introduction of a synthetic strains derived from a resident species. In this paper we address this problem by modelling the response of a competitive community to the addition of a synthetic strain derived from a member of a stable ecosystem. We show that the community interaction matrix largely limits the spread of the engineered strain, thus suggesting that species diversity acts as an ecological firewall. Implications for future restoration and terraformation strategies are discussed.