Communities that build

I spend the majority of my life looking down a microscope in order to decipher the impact that bacteria have on global cycling of matter. When nearly every thought is driven toward observing Horton’s Who-ville, it’s easy to miss the big picture around you and how your tiny world contributes to the greater whole.

In a majority of these systems, scientist have found that communities grow by a the initial attachment of one or two anchor cells who begin to produce sticky proteins that make it easier for other cells passing by to stick and settle into the newly founded community. These initial cells also provide access to nutrients that newly recruited cells need, and they reproduce to grow the community. Over time this changes the initial surface that they attached to, limiting some nutrients essential for their growth and building up waste products which can be used as nutrients by other types of bacteria. Specialized niches develop and bacteria join to fill those niches. Soon a 3-D structure of a living community develops where different cells both compete and contribute to one another. These communities can be vast and can be very resistant to external stressors that might kill an individual cell. They can create spires of new minerals or dissolve the rocks beneath them. All of their actions contribute to the global cycling of matter and energy required to sustain all life on Earth. The earliest cyanobacteria mats appear to be largely responsible for increasing the oxygen levels in the atmosphere to allow complex life to evolve.

When I think about the diversity of military spouses, I often reflect on microbial mat communities. There are anchor women who hold the FRG meetings, field calls from new spouses and create the first semblance of community in and around the base. They provide help and support that allows other spouses to remain in the loop, while contributing in other ways and pursuing their own interests. The removal of any one type of spouse, i.e. different races, creeds,  politics, education levels etc) would ultimately shift the group in a different direction which could potentially weaken the whole. Alternatively, by understanding that each spouse contributes in a different way and playing to this diversity of strengths, our community grows stronger and more resilient.