Fig. 3: Rapid nutrient fluctuations reduce growth rate compared to environments of equal average nutrient concentration.

a Cells in fluctuating environments of various period lengths (T) experienced the same time-averaged nutrient concentration as C_ave but grew at lower growth rates. Each point represents the mean growth rate of all individual cells measured from all time steps after the initial 3 h of each experiment. Colored points are replicate experiments for steady C_low, C_ave, or C_high or fluctuating nutrient conditions; gray points are additional steady nutrient concentrations that span the range from nearly zero growth to saturated growth. Error bars denote the standard error of the mean and are smaller than data points when not visible. b Schematic representation of Jensen’s inequality (G_ave > G_J) and the relationship between G_ave, the growth rate at steady nutrient C_ave = (C_low + C_high)/2, and G_J, the maximum growth rate expected for cells spending equal time at C_low and C_high. G_fluc in our experiments is below G_J. c Percent difference in growth rate for G_fluc at different period lengths relative to a steady-state reference, either G_ave or G_J. Percent difference was calculated from n = 2–4 biologically independent experiments with conditions performed on the same day as (G_fluc − G_ave)/G_ave × 100 or (G_fluc − G_J)/G_J × 100. The raw values used in these calculations are reported in Supplementary Table 6. Data points indicate the difference calculated from each biological replicate. Error bars denote the standard error of the mean.