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211 results for “mutualists”
Data from: Geographical variation in the heterogeneity of mutualistic networks
Plant–animal mutualistic networks are characterized by highly heterogeneous degree distributions. The majority of species interact with few partner species, while a small number are highly connected to form network hubs that are proposed to play an important role in community stability. It has not been investigated, however, if or how the degree distributions vary among types of mutualisms or communities, or between plants and animals in the same network. Here, we evaluate the degree distributions of pollination and seed-dispersal networks, which are two major types of mutualistic networks that have often been discussed in parallel, using an index based on Pielou's evenness. Among 56 pollination networks we found strong negative correlation of the heterogeneity between plants and animals, and geographical shifts of network hubs from plants in temperate regions to animals in the tropics. For 28 seed-dispersal networks, by contrast, the correlation was positive, and there is no comparable geographical pattern. These results may be explained by evolution towards specialization in the presence of context-dependent costs that occur if plants share the animal species as interaction partner. How the identity of network hubs affects the stability and resilience of the community is an important question for future studies.
Data from: Interspecific signalling between mutualists: food-thieving drongos use a cooperative sentinel call to manipulate foraging partners
Interspecific communication is common in nature, particularly between mutualists. However, whether signals evolved for communication with other species, or are in fact conspecific signals eavesdropped upon by partners, is often unclear. Fork-tailed drongos (Dicrurus adsimilis) associate with mixed-species groups and often produce true alarms at predators, whereupon associating species flee to cover, but also false alarms to steal associating species' food (kleptoparasitism). Despite such deception, associating species respond to drongo non-alarm calls by increasing their foraging and decreasing vigilance. Yet, whether these calls represent interspecific sentinel signals remains unknown. We show that drongos produced a specific sentinel call when foraging with a common associate, the sociable weaver (Philetairus socius), but not when alone. Weavers increased their foraging and decreased vigilance when naturally associating with drongos, and in response to sentinel call playback. Further, drongos sentinel-called more often when weavers were moving, and weavers approached sentinel calls, suggesting a recruitment function. Finally, drongos sentinel-called when weavers fled following false alarms, thereby reducing disruption to weaver foraging time. Results therefore provide evidence of an 'all clear' signal that mitigates the cost of inaccurate communication. Our results suggest that drongos enhance exploitation of a foraging mutualist through coevolution of interspecific sentinel signals.
Data from: Interactions between functionally diverse fungal mutualists inconsistently affect plant performance and competition
Plants form mutualistic relationship with a variety of belowground fungal species. Such a mutualistic relationship can enhance plant growth and resistance to pathogens. Yet, we know little about how interactions between functionally diverse groups of fungal mutualists affect plant performance and competition. We experimentally determined the effects of interaction between two functional groups of belowground fungi that form mutualistic relationship with plants, arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi and Trichoderma, on interspecific competition between pairs of closely related plant species from four different genera. We hypothesized that the combination of two functionally diverse belowground fungal species would allow plants and fungi to partition their symbiotic relationships and relax plant‐plant competition. Our results show that: 1) the AM fungal species consistently outcompeted the Trichoderma species independent of plant combinations; 2) the fungal species generally had limited effects on competitive interactions between plants; 3) however, the combination of fungal species relaxed interspecific competition in one of the four instances of plant–plant competition, despite the general competitive superiority of AM fungi over Trichoderma. We highlight that the competitive outcome between functionally diverse fungal species may show high consistency across a broad range of host plants and their combinations. However, despite this consistent competitive hierarchy, the consequences of their interaction for plant performance and competition can strongly vary among plant communities.
Data from: Implications of non-native species for mutualistic network resistance and resilience
Resilience theory aims to understand and predict ecosystem state changes resulting from disturbances. Non-native species are ubiquitous in ecological communities and integrated into many described ecological interaction networks, including mutualisms. By altering the fitness landscape and rewiring species interactions, such network invasion may carry important implications for ecosystem resistance and resilience under continued environmental change. Here, I hypothesize that the tendency of established non-native species to be generalists may make them more likely than natives to occupy central network roles and may link them to the resistance and resilience of the overall network. I use a quantitative research synthesis of 58 empirical pollination and seed dispersal networks, along with extinction simulations, to examine the roles of known non-natives in networks. I show that non-native species in networks enhance network redundancy and may thereby bolster the ecological resistance or functional persistence of ecosystems in the face of disturbance. At the same time, non-natives are unlikely to partner with specialist natives, thus failing to support the resilience of native species assemblages. Non-natives significantly exceed natives in network centrality, normalized degree, and Pollination Service Index. Networks containing non-natives exhibit lower connectance, more links on average, and higher generality and vulnerability than networks lacking non-natives. As environmental change progresses, specialists are particularly likely to be impacted, reducing species diversity in many communities and network types. This work implies that functional diversity may be retained but taxonomic diversity decline as non-native species become established in networks worldwide.
Data from: Phylogenetic tree shape and the structure of mutualistic networks
Species community composition is known to alter the network of interactions between two trophic levels, potentially affecting its functioning (e.g. plant pollination success) and the stability of communities. Phylogenies vary in shape with regard to the rate of evolutionary change across a tree (influencing tree balance) and variation in the timing of branching events (affecting the distribution of node ages in trees), both of which may influence the structure of species interaction networks. Because related species are likely to share many of the traits that regulate interactions, the shape of phylogenetic trees may provide some insights into the distribution of traits within communities, and hence the likelihood of interaction among species. However, little attention has been paid to the potential effects of changes in phylogenetic diversity (PD) on interaction networks. Phylogenetic diversity is influenced by species diversity within a community, but also how distantly-related the constituent species are from one another. Here, we evaluate the relationship between two important measures of phylogenetic diversity (tree shape and age of nodes) and the structure of plant-pollinator interaction networks using empirical and simulated data. Whereas the former allows us to evaluate patterns in real communities, the latter allows us to evaluate more systematically the relationship between tree shape and network structure under three different models of trait evolution. In empirical networks, less balanced plant phylogenies were associated with lower connectance in interaction networks indicating that communities with the descendants of recent radiations are more diverged and specialized in their partnerships. In simulations, tree balance and the distribution of nodes through time were included in the best models for modularity, and the second best models for connectance and nestedness. In models assuming random evolutionary change through time (i.e., Brownian motion), less balanced trees and trees with nodes near the tips exhibited greater modularity, whereas in models with an early burst of radiation followed by relative stasis (i.e. early-burst models) more balanced trees and trees with nodes near roots had greater modularity. Synthesis: Overall, these results suggest that the shape of phylogenies can influence the structure of plant-pollinator interaction networks. However, the mismatch between simulations and empirical data indicate that no simple model of trait evolution mimics that observed in real communities.
Data from: Coevolution and the architecture of mutualistic networks
Although coevolution is widely recognized as an important evolutionary process for pairs of reciprocally specialized species, its importance within species-rich communities of generalized species has been questioned. Here we develop and analyze mathematical models of mutualistic communities, such as those between plants and pollinators or plants and seed-dispersers to evaluate the importance of coevolutionary selection within complex communities. Our analyses reveal that coevolutionary selection can drive significant changes in trait distributions with important consequences for the network structure of mutualistic communities. One such consequence is greater connectance caused by an almost invariable increase in the rate of mutualistic interaction within the community. Another important consequence is altered patterns of nestedness. Specifically, interactions mediated by a mechanism of phenotype matching tend to be anti-nested when coevolutionary selection is weak and even more strongly anti-nested as increasing coevolutionary selection favors the emergence of reciprocal specialization. In contrast, interactions mediated by a mechanism of phenotype differences tend to be nested when coevolutionary selection is weak, but less nested as increasing coevolutionary selection favors greater levels of generalization in both plants and animals. Taken together, our results show that coevolutionary selection can be an important force within mutualistic communities, driving changes in trait distributions, interaction rates, and even network structure.
Pharsalus repandus (Hemiptera: Ricaniidae) with mutualistic interaction with two species of Camponotus
<p>The ants who were attending the planthoppers was identified as <em>Camponotus rufipes</em> (Fabricius, 1775) and <em>Camponotus crassus</em> Mayr, 1862 (Fig. 2A, D, arrow 2). We noted direct contact and observed the ants employing antennal palpation behavior to stimulate the planthoppers. The ant positions itself just behind the planthopper, delicately and repeatedly touching its wings with the tips of its antennae. In response to this interaction, the planthopper gradually elevates its forewings, although they do not fully open, and the anal margins remain unseparated. Concurrently, a droplet of honeydew is released. Additionally, we observed the planthoppers reacting to the presence of ants walking nearby with an extremely rapid movement of the wings, even though there was no physical contact between them.</p>
Salinity Legacy: Foliar microbiome's history affects mutualist-conferred salinity tolerance
<p>The rapid human-driven changes in the environment during the Anthropocene have placed extreme stress on many plants and animals. Beneficial interactions with microorganisms may be crucial for ameliorating these stressors and facilitating the ecosystem services host organisms provide. Foliar endophytes, microorganisms that reside within leaves, are found in essentially all plants and can provide important benefits (e.g., enhanced drought tolerance or resistance to herbivory). However, it remains unclear how important the legacy effects of the abiotic stressors that select on these microbiomes are for affecting the degree of stress amelioration provided to their hosts. To elucidate foliar endophytes' role in host plant salt-tolerance, especially if salinity experienced in the field selects for endophytes that are better suited to improve salt-tolerance of their hosts, we combined field collections of 90 endophyte communities from 30 sites across the coastal Everglades with a manipulative growth experiment assessing endophyte inoculation effects on host plant performance. Specifically, we grew >350 red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle) seedlings in a factorial design that manipulated the salinity environment the seedlings experienced (freshwater vs. saltwater), the introduction of field-collected endophytes (live vs. sterilized inoculum), and the legacy of salinity stress experienced by these introduced endophytes [ranging from no salt stress (0 ppt salinity) to high salt stress (40 ppt) environments]. We found that inoculation with field-collected endophytes significantly increased mangrove performance across almost all metrics examined (15-20% increase on average) and these beneficial effects typically occurred when grown in saltwater. Importantly, our study revealed the novel result that endophyte-conferred salinity tolerance depended on microbiome salinity legacy in a key coastal foundation species. Salt-stressed mangroves inoculated with endophyte microbiomes from high salinity environments performed, on average, as well as plants grown in low-stress freshwater, while endophytes from freshwater environments did not relieve host salinity stress. Given the increasing salinity stress imposed by sea level rise and the importance of foundation species like mangroves for ecosystem services, our results indicate that consideration of endophytic associations and their salinity legacy may be critical for successful restoration and management of coastal habitats.</p>
Cheating interactions favor modularity in mutualistic networks
<p>A fundamental fact about mutualisms is that these mutually beneficial interactions often harbor cheaters that benefit from the use of resources and services without providing any positive feedback to the other players. The role of cheaters on the evolutionary dynamics of mutualisms has long been recognized, yet their broader consequences to the community level, and beyond species they interact with, is still poorly understood. Because mutualisms form networks that often involve dozens to hundreds of species, indirect effects generated by cheaters may cascade through the whole community, reshaping trait evolution. Here, we study how harboring cheating interactions can influence coevolution in mutualistic networks. We combine a coevolutionary model, empirical data on animal-plant mutualistic networks, and numerical simulations and show that a higher frequency of cheating interactions in a network can lead to the formation of groups of species phenotypically similar to each other and distinct from other groups, generating higher trait disparity. The resulting clustered trait patterns, in turn, change the patterns of interaction in simulated networks, fostering the formation of modules of interacting species. Our results indicate that cheaters contribute to generate phenotypic clusters in mutualistic networks, counteracting selection for convergence imposed by mutualists, and favoring the emergence of modules of interacting species. Based on these results, we suggest that cheaters might be a fundamental element for our understanding of the evolution of mutualistic networks.</p>
Data from: Using local ecological knowledge to build mutualistic networks in hyper-diverse and logistically challenging ecosystems
<p>1. Collecting interaction data to build frugivory or seed dispersal networks is logistically challenging in ecosystems that have very high plant and animal diversity and/or where fieldwork is difficult or dangerous. Consequently, the majority of available networks are from ecosystems with low species diversity or they represent a sub-set of the community. </p> <p>2. Here, we propose an approach using local ecological knowledge (LEK) of indigenous communities to build interaction databases and weighted networks that would otherwise be difficult to achieve with direct observations. Indigenous communities live and work in many hyper-diverse ecosystems and the people within these communities often have detailed knowledge of ecological processes. </p> <p>3. Working in a Sundaland biodiversity hotspot – Royal Belum State Park, Peninsular Malaysia – we used field data, visually-oriented interviews with indigenous people (Orang Asli, in the Jahai and Temiar ethnic subgroups), and published records to collate interactions, and their frequency of occurrence of animal fruit consumption and seed dispersal. </p> <p>4. We documented 2060 fruit consumption and 1330 seed dispersal interactions among 164 plant species and 34 animal taxa, the latter representing groups of closely related species or individual species. The majority of the interactions (97%) were identified by the LEK interviews, with the additional methods (field data and published records) used to support and marginally expand the interview data. The metrics for the networks we built reflect those of networks structured by biological mechanisms, supporting the validity of our novel method. </p> <p>5. Local ecological knowledge is highly relevant for building detailed databases for mutualistic interactions in hyper-diverse and/or challenging ecosystems. Such ecosystems are among the most vulnerable on earth, harbouring ecological interactions that are often poorly documented at a community-level. We show how LEK can broaden our knowledge of such sensitive ecosystems, but our approach is useful for any ecosystem where people retain rich local ecological knowledge.</p>
Intraspecific variation in species interactions promotes the feasibility of mutualistic assemblages
<p>Dataset associated with the manuscript "Intraspecific variation in species interactions promotes the feasibility of mutualistic assemblages" (Arroyo-Correa et al. 2023)</p>
Data from: Dealing with mutualists and antagonists: specificity of plant-mediated interactions between herbivores and flower visitors, and consequences for plant fitness
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Data from: Interactions between functionally diverse fungal mutualists inconsistently affect plant performance and competition
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Data from: Components of phylogenetic signal in antagonistic and mutualistic networks
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Data from: Spatial patterns of pathogenic and mutualistic fungi across the elevational range of a host plant
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Data from: Intense competition between arbuscular mycorrhizal mutualists in an in vitro root microbiome negatively affects total fungal abundance
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Data from: Long-term nitrogen addition causes the evolution of less cooperative mutualists
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Data from: Mimicry among unequally defended prey should be mutualistic when predators sample optimally
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Data from: Shifts along parasite-mutualist continuum are opposed by fundamental trade-offs
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Data from: Host plant phylogeny and abundance predict root-associated fungal community composition and diversity of mutualists and pathogens
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