Session: Social microbes (Mitri, Dupré, Clarke, Birch)

Many claims have recently been made about how research into bacterial sociality and cooperation motivate new ways of thinking about individuality in microbes. In particular, it has been suggested, in light of evidence concerning quorum sensing and other emergent behaviours, that the bacterial communities known as 'biofilms' might be conceptualised as constituting a form of higher-level organismality. Furthermore, it has been suggested that some of the properties of these communities should be thought of as community-level adaptations. I evaluate these claims and try to spell out exactly what, if anything, turns on them.