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Why, contrary to theoretical predictions, do marine microbe communitiesharbor tremendous phenotypic heterogeneity? How can so many marine microbespecies competing in the same niche coexist? We discovered a unifyingexplanation for both phenomena by investigating a non-cooperative game thatinterpolates between individual-level competitions and species-level outcomes.We identified all equilibrium strategies of the game. These strategies arecharacterized by maximal phenotypic heterogeneity. They are also neutraltowards each other in the sense that an unlimited number of species canco-exist while competing according to the equilibrium strategies. Whereas priortheory predicts that natural selection would minimize trait variation around anoptimum value, here we obtained a rigorous mathematical proof that species withmaximally variable traits are those that endure. This discrepancy may reflect adisparity between predictions from models developed for larger organisms incontrast to our microbe-centric model. Rigorous mathematics proves thatphenotypic heterogeneity is itself a mechanistic underpinning of microbialdiversity. This discovery has fundamental ramifications for microbial ecologyand may represent an adaptive reservoir sheltering biodiversity in changingenvironmental conditions.

Biodiversity of marine microbes is safeguarded by phenotypic variability in ecological traits