Tackling antibiotic resistance necessitates deep understanding of how resource competition within and between species modulates the fitness of resistant microbes. Recent advances in ecological coexistence theory offer a powerful framework to probe the mechanisms regulating intra- and interspecific competition, but the significance of this body of theory to the problem of antibiotic resistance has been largely overlooked. In this Perspective, we draw on emerging ecological theory to illustrate how changes in resource niche overlap can be equally important as changes in competitive ability for understanding costs of resistance and the persistence of resistant pathogens in microbial communities. We then show how different temporal patterns of resource and antibiotic supply, alongside trade-offs in competitive ability at high and low resource concentrations, can have diametrically opposing consequences for the coexistence and exclusion of resistant and susceptible strains. These insights highlight numerous opportunities for innovative experimental and theoretical research into the ecological dimensions of antibiotic resistance.

解决抗生素耐药性问题需要深入了解物种内部和物种之间的资源竞争如何调节耐药微生物的适应性。生态共存理论的最新进展为探索调节种内和种间竞争的机制提供了一个强大的框架，但这一理论体系对抗生素耐药性问题的重要性在很大程度上被忽视了。在这一观点中，我们利用新兴的生态理论来说明资源生态位重叠的变化如何与竞争能力的变化同等重要，以了解微生物群落中耐药性成本和耐药病原体的持久性。然后我们展示了资源和抗生素供应的不同时间模式，除了在高资源集中度和低资源集中度下竞争能力的权衡之外，对于抗性和易感菌株的共存和排除可能产生截然相反的结果。这些见解突出了对抗生素耐药性的生态维度进行创新实验和理论研究的众多机会。