The evolution of obligate mutualism: if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em

2007 ◽  
Vol 22 (10) ◽  
pp. 506-509 ◽  
Author(s):  
Duur K. Aanen ◽  
Rolf F. Hoekstra
Keyword(s):  
Obligate Mutualism

Non-Random Fruit Retention in Yucca filamentosa: Consequences for an Obligate Mutualism

Oikos ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 78 (3) ◽  
pp. 576 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chad J. Huth ◽  
Olle Pellmyr
Keyword(s):  
Obligate Mutualism

scholarly journals Evolution of division of labour in mutualistic symbiosis

2020 ◽  
Vol 287 (1930) ◽  
pp. 20200669
Author(s):  
Yu Uchiumi ◽  
Akira Sasaki
Keyword(s):  
Division Of Labour ◽  
Living Alone ◽  
Mutualistic Symbiosis ◽  
Obligate Mutualism ◽  
High Degree

Mutualistic symbiosis can be regarded as interspecific division of labour, which can improve the productivity of metabolites and services but deteriorate the ability to live without partners. Interestingly, even in environmentally acquired symbiosis, involved species often rely exclusively on the partners despite the lethal risk of missing partners. To examine this paradoxical evolution, we explored the coevolutionary dynamics in symbiotic species for the amount of investment in producing their essential metabolites, which symbiotic species can share. Our study has shown that, even if obtaining partners is difficult, ‘perfect division of labour’ (PDL) can be maintained evolutionarily, where each species perfectly specializes in producing one of the essential metabolites so that every member entirely depends on the others for survival, i.e. in exchange for losing the ability of living alone. Moreover, the coevolutionary dynamics shows multistability with other states including a state without any specialization. It can cause evolutionary hysteresis: once PDL has been achieved evolutionarily when obtaining partners was relatively easy, it is not reverted even if obtaining partners becomes difficult later. Our study suggests that obligate mutualism with a high degree of mutual specialization can evolve and be maintained easier than previously thought.

scholarly journals Loss of top-down biotic interactions changes the relative benefits for obligate mutualists

2019 ◽  
Vol 286 (1897) ◽  
pp. 20182501 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rong Wang ◽  
Xiao-Yong Chen ◽  
Yan Chen ◽  
Gang Wang ◽  
Derek W. Dunn ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Biotic Interactions ◽  
Trophic Levels ◽  
Fig Wasp ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Top Predators ◽  
Natural Range ◽  
Obligate Mutualism ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Food Web Complexity

The collapse of mutualisms owing to anthropogenic changes is contributing to losses of biodiversity. Top predators can regulate biotic interactions between species at lower trophic levels and may contribute to the stability of such mutualisms, but they are particularly likely to be lost after disturbance of communities. We focused on the mutualism between the fig tree Ficus microcarpa and its host-specific pollinator fig wasp and compared the benefits accrued by the mutualists in natural and translocated areas of distribution. Parasitoids of the pollinator were rare or absent outside the natural range of the mutualists, where the relative benefits the mutualists gained from their interaction were changed significantly away from the plant's natural range owing to reduced seed production rather than increased numbers of pollinator offspring. Furthermore, in the absence of the negative effects of its parasitoids, we detected an oviposition range expansion by the pollinator, with the use of a wider range of ovules that could otherwise have generated seeds. Loss of top-down control has therefore resulted in a change in the balance of reciprocal benefits that underpins this obligate mutualism, emphasizing the value of maintaining food web complexity in the Anthropocene.

The Dodo and the Tambalacoque Tree: An Obligate Mutualism Reconsidered

Oikos ◽  
1991 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark C. Witmer ◽  
Anthony S. Cheke
Keyword(s):  
Obligate Mutualism

Transitions in symbiosis: evidence for environmental acquisition & social transmission within a clade of heritable symbionts

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georgia C Drew ◽  
Giles E Budge ◽  
Crystal L Frost ◽  
Peter Neumann ◽  
Stefanos Siozios ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Honey Bee ◽  
Honey Bees ◽  
Fluorescent In Situ Hybridization ◽  
Horizontal Transmission ◽  
Bacterial Symbionts ◽  
Free Living ◽  
Social Contacts ◽  
Obligate Mutualism ◽  
Environmental Microbes

AbstractA dynamic continuum exists from free-living environmental microbes to strict host associated symbionts that are vertically inherited. However, knowledge of the forces that drive transitions in the modes by which symbioses form is lacking. Arsenophonus is a diverse clade of bacterial symbionts, comprising reproductive parasites to coevolving obligate mutualists, in which the predominant mode of transmission is vertical. We describe a symbiosis between a member of the genus Arsenophonus and the Western honey bee. We then present multiple lines of evidence that this symbiont deviates from a heritable model of transmission. Field sampling uncovered marked spatial and seasonal dynamics in symbiont prevalence, and rapid infection loss events were observed in field colonies and individuals in the laboratory. Fluorescent in-situ hybridization showed Arsenophonus localised in the gut, and detection of the bacterium was rare in screens of early honey bee life stages. We directly show horizontal transmission of Arsenophonus between bees under varying social conditions. We conclude that honey bees acquire Arsenophonus through a combination of environmental exposure and social contacts. Together these findings uncover a key link in the Arsenophonus clades trajectory from free-living ancestral life to obligate mutualism, and provide a foundation for studying transitions in symbiotic lifestyle.

Apparent Mutualism Between Verticordia nitens and V-Aurea (Myrtaceae) and Their Oil-Ingesting Bee Pollinators (Hymenoptera, Colletidae)

1993 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 369 ◽  
Author(s):  
TF Houston ◽  
BB Lamont ◽  
S Radford ◽  
SG Errington
Keyword(s):  
Fatty Acids ◽  
Seed Set ◽  
Flower Colour ◽  
Sole Source ◽  
Solitary Bee ◽  
Insect Pollinators ◽  
Obligate Mutualism

The prominently-displayed flowers of Verticordia nitens and V. aurea are unattractive to most insect pollinators and yet apparently serve as the sole source of pollen and nectar for two species of solitary bee. Euryglossa (Euhesma) morrisoni forages exclusively on V. nitens and E. (E.) aureophila forages exclusively on V. aurea. These bees carry much pollen on their bodies and appear solely responsible for seed set of 9-31% of ovules, with negligible seed set by V. nitens in the absence of E. morrisoni. Each anther of both Verticordia species releases pollen in copious amounts of oil (pollenkitt) beneath a hood-like appendage which terminates in a spout. Female bees ingest the pollen-oil mixture by touching the appendages with their glossae, and nectar by lapping the floor of the hypanthium. Most of the oils are isopentyl esters of the fatty acids, palmitic, stearic, arachidic (the major component of V. nitens) and behenic (the major component of V. aurea). These oils, as well as significant amounts of glucose, fructose and proline, are also present in the crop of E. morrisoni. The ability ofE. morrisoni and E. aureophila to remove and utilise pollen, oil and nectar from the flowers, their effectiveness as sole pollinators, and flower colour mimicry by E. morrisoni, together suggest an obligate mutualism between these bees and their Verticordia hosts.

The global phylogeny of the subfamily Sycoryctinae (Pteromalidae): Parasites of an obligate mutualism

2012 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 116-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon T. Segar ◽  
Carlos Lopez-Vaamonde ◽  
Jean-Yves Rasplus ◽  
James M. Cook
Keyword(s):  
Obligate Mutualism

scholarly journals Exometabolomics Assisted Design and Validation of Synthetic Obligate Mutualism

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (7) ◽  
pp. 569-576 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suzanne M. Kosina ◽  
Megan A. Danielewicz ◽  
Mujahid Mohammed ◽  
Jayashree Ray ◽  
Yumi Suh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Obligate Mutualism
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document