Publications

For the most up-to-date list, see Google Scholar. Current and former lab members are highlighted in green.

Preprints

• Tseng YP, Engelstädter J, Letten AD (2026). Metabolic switching promotes microbial coexistence under fluctuating resources. bioRxiv.
• Letten AD, Orr JA, Engelstädter J, Held NA, Klausmeier C, Manhart M, Stouffer DB (2026). Shifting resource limitation explains multiphasic patterns of density dependence. bioRxiv.
• Ngô LN, Letten AD, Engelstädter J (2026). Mutations associated with streptomycin resistance predicted to be highly prevalent and evolvable across bacteria. bioRxiv.
• Williams AH, Gooi I, Boggan M, Liu Z, Letten AD, Engelstädter J (2025). Strong genotype-by-genotype and genotype-by-environment interactions induced by antibiotic resistance mutations. bioRxiv.

2026

• Orr JA, Davis KE, Williams AH, Engelstädter J, Stouffer DB, Letten AD (2026). Growth-density inversion in Escherichia coli reveals superlinear, not sublinear, density dependence. PLOS Biology 24(7): e3003898.

2025

• Bolourchi N, Brown CRP, Letten AD, Engelstädter J (2025). Evolution and evolvability of rifampicin resistance across the bacterial tree of life. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 122(31): e2424307122.
• Letten AD (2025). Making sense of (sublinear) density dependence. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 40(7): 622-625.
• Delaney O, Letten AD, Engelstädter J (2025). Optimal antimicrobial dosing combinations when drug-resistance mutation rates differ. Evolution 79(9): 1900-1910.
• Richardson JA, Engelstädter J, Letten AD (2025). A unifying principle for multispecies coexistence under resource fluctuations. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 122(24): e2424996122.
• Orr JA, Armitage DW, Letten AD (2025). Coexistence Theory for Microbial Ecology, and Vice Versa. Environmental Microbiology 27(3): e70072.

2024

• Letten AD, Yamamichi M, Richardson JA, Ke PJ (2024). Microbial Dormancy Supports Multi‐Species Coexistence Under Resource Fluctuations. Ecology Letters 27(9): e14507.

2023

• Delaney O, Letten AD, Engelstädter J (2023). Frequent, infinitesimal bottlenecks maximize the rate of microbial adaptation. Genetics 225(4): iyad185.
• Yamamichi M, Letten AD, Schreiber SJ (2023). Eco‐evolutionary maintenance of diversity in fluctuating environments. Ecology Letters 26(S1).
• Letten AD, Ludington WB (2023). Pulsed, continuous or somewhere in between? Resource dynamics matter in the optimisation of microbial communities. The ISME Journal 17(4): 641-644.

2022

• Spaak JW, Ke PJ, Letten AD, De Laender F (2022). Different measures of niche and fitness differences tell different tales. Oikos 2023(4): e09573.
• Yamamichi M, Letten AD (2022). Extending the gleaner–opportunist trade‐off. Journal of Animal Ecology 91(11): 2163-2170.

2021

• Letten AD (2021). Coexistence holes fill a gap in community assembly theory. Nature Ecology & Evolution 5(8): 1062-1063.
• Letten AD, Baumgartner M, Pfrunder-Cardozo KR, Levine JM, Hall AR (2021). Human-associated microbiota suppress invading bacteria even under disruption by antibiotics. The ISME Journal 15(9): 2809-2812.
• Yamamichi M, Letten AD (2021). Rapid evolution promotes fluctuation‐dependent species coexistence. Ecology Letters 24(4): 812-818.
• Letten AD, Hall AR, Levine JM (2021). Using ecological coexistence theory to understand antibiotic resistance and microbial competition. Nature Ecology & Evolution 5(4): 431-441.
• Letten AD, Yamamichi M (2021). Gleaning, fast and slow: In defense of a canonical ecological trade-off. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 118(5): e2022754118.

2020

• Hendershot JN, Smith JR, Anderson CB, Letten AD, Frishkoff LO, Zook JR, Fukami T, Daily GC (2020). Intensive farming drives long-term shifts in avian community composition. Nature 579(7799): 393-396.

2019

• Grainger TN, Letten AD, Gilbert B, Fukami T (2019). Applying modern coexistence theory to priority effects. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 116(13): 6205-6210.
• Letten AD, Stouffer DB (2019). The mechanistic basis for higher-order interactions and non-additivity in competitive communities. Ecology Letters 22(3): 423-436.

2018

• Smith JR, Letten AD, Ke PJ, Anderson CB, Hendershot JN, Dhami MK, Dlott GA, Grainger TN, Howard ME, Morrison BML, Routh D, San Juan PA, Mooney HA, Mordecai EA, Crowther TW, Daily GC (2018). A global test of ecoregions. Nature Ecology & Evolution 2(12): 1889-1896.
• Ke PJ, Letten AD (2018). Coexistence theory and the frequency-dependence of priority effects. Nature Ecology & Evolution 2(11): 1691-1695.
• Letten AD, Dhami MK, Ke PJ, Fukami T (2018). Species coexistence through simultaneous fluctuation-dependent mechanisms. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 115(26): 6745-6750.
• Dhami MK, Hartwig T, Letten AD, Banf M, Fukami T (2018). Genomic diversity of a nectar yeast clusters into metabolically, but not geographically, distinct lineages. Molecular Ecology 27(8): 2067-2076.

2017

• Thomson FJ, Letten AD, Tamme R, Edwards W, Moles AT (2017). Can dispersal investment explain why tall plant species achieve longer dispersal distances than short plant species? New Phytologist 217(1): 407-415.
• Mason TJ, Keith DA, Letten AD (2017). Detecting state changes for ecosystem conservation with long‐term monitoring of species composition. Ecological Applications 27(2): 458-468.
• Letten AD, Ke PJ, Fukami T (2017). Linking modern coexistence theory and contemporary niche theory. Ecological Monographs 87(2): 161-177.

2016

• Venn SE, Pickering CM, Butler SA, Letten AD (2016). Using a model based fourth-corner analysis to explain vegetation change following an extraordinary fire disturbance. Oecologia 182(3): 855-863.

2015

• Letten AD, Keith DA, Tozer MG, Hui FKC (2015). Fine‐scale hydrological niche differentiation through the lens of multi‐species co‐occurrence models. Journal of Ecology 103(5): 1264-1275.

2014

• Letten AD, Keith DA, Tozer MG (2014). Phylogenetic and functional dissimilarity does not increase during temporal heathland succession. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 281(1797): 20142102.
• Clarke PJ, Keith DA, Vincent BE, Letten AD (2014). Post‐grazing and post‐fire vegetation dynamics: long‐term changes in mountain bogs reveal community resilience. Journal of Vegetation Science 26(2): 278-290.
• Letten AD, Cornwell WK (2014). Trees, branches and (square) roots: why evolutionary relatedness is not linearly related to functional distance. Methods in Ecology and Evolution 6(4): 439-444.
• Flores-Moreno H, García-Treviño ES, Letten AD, Moles AT (2014). In the beginning: phenotypic change in three invasive species through their first two centuries since introduction. Biological Invasions 17(4): 1215-1225.

2013

• Letten AD, Kathleen Lyons S, Moles AT (2013). The mid‐domain effect: it’s not just about space. Journal of Biogeography 40(11): 2017-2019.
• Letten AD, Ashcroft MB, Keith DA, Gollan JR, Ramp D (2013). The importance of temporal climate variability for spatial patterns in plant diversity. Ecography 36(12): 1341-1349.

2009

• Letten AD, Midgley JJ (2009). Rodent pollination in the Cape legume Liparia parva. Austral Ecology 34(2): 233-236.