The Evolution of Cooperation

The field of experimental evolution is burgeoning under the power of microbial systems. Our ability to manipulate experimental design for use with microbes is only limited by our imagination. This thesis is a study that uses Pseudomonas fluorescens, a soil dwelling bacterium, as an experimental tool for understanding evolutionary processes. The evolution of cooperation has been a thorny issue for many years, because it initially seems to contradict the intrinsically selfish concepts established in Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection. Advances in microbiology and the ability to test important evolutionary theories using microbes, provides an exciting opportunity for those working in the field of experimental evolution.