Population dynamics of chemotrophs in anaerobic conditions where the metabolic energy acquisition per redox reaction is limited.

•We modeled microbial population growth based on low-energy redox reactions.•More energy is extracted when the reactants are abundant and the products are rare.•This “abundant resource premium” has been neglected in ecological models.•Incorporating this effect leads to qualitatively new dynamics.•An intermediate rate of resource acquisition maximizes the steady-state population.