State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents in Agriculture, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
CAS Center for Excellence in Biotic Interactions, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Integr Zool. 2021 Jan;16(1):84-96. doi: 10.1111/1749-4877.12487. Epub 2020 Oct 6.
Mutualism or antagonism between species is often investigated within the framework of monotonic interactions of either mutualism or antagonism, but studies on transition from mutualism to antagonism (within the context of nonmonotonic interactions) have been largely ignored. In this paper, through a brief review and synthesis, we highlighted the role of mutualism between antagonists in regulating the ecological and evolutionary processes, as well as maintaining the stability and complexity of ecosystems. Mutualism between antagonistic species represents the density-dependent transition between mutualism and antagonism, which is beneficial to species coexistence and stability of complex ecosystems; thus, it should be favored by natural selection. Species may face selection of conflicting pressure on functional traits in co-balancing mutualism and antagonism, which may result in evolution of the dual character of species with moderate mutualistic or antagonistic traits. Coevolution and co-balance of these traits are driving forces in shaping mutualism-antagonism systems. Rewards for mutualists, punishment for exploiters, and competition of meta-communities are essential in stabilizing mutualism between antagonists. We appeal for more studies on mutualism between antagonists and its ecological and evolutionary implications by expanding the conventional ecological studies from monotonic to nonmonotonic regimes.
物种间的共生或拮抗关系通常在单纯的共生或拮抗相互作用框架内进行研究，但对从共生到拮抗的转变（在非单调相互作用的背景下）的研究却在很大程度上被忽视了。在本文中，我们通过简要的回顾和综合，强调了拮抗作用者之间的共生在调节生态和进化过程以及维持生态系统的稳定性和复杂性方面的作用。拮抗种间的共生代表了共生和拮抗之间的密度依赖型转变，有利于物种共存和复杂生态系统的稳定性；因此，它应该受到自然选择的青睐。物种可能面临着在共同平衡共生和拮抗关系时对功能特征的冲突压力的选择，这可能导致具有中等共生或拮抗特征的物种的双重特征的进化。这些特征的共同进化和共同平衡是塑造共生-拮抗系统的驱动力。互惠主义者的回报、剥削者的惩罚和元社区的竞争是稳定拮抗作用者之间共生关系的关键。我们呼吁通过将传统的生态研究从单调扩展到非单调范围，对拮抗作用者之间的共生及其生态和进化意义进行更多的研究。
