Departamento de Ecología Funcional y Evolutiva, Estación Experimental de Zonas Áridas (EEZA- CSIC), Almería, Spain.
Department of Wildland Resources and Ecology Center, S. J. and Jesse E. Quinney College of Natural Resources, Utah State University, Logan, Utah, USA.
Ecol Lett. 2022 Feb;25(2):264-277. doi: 10.1111/ele.13939. Epub 2021 Dec 31.
Mutualism effectiveness, the contribution of an interacting organism to its partner's fitness, is defined as the number of immediate outcomes of the interactions (quantity component) multiplied by the probability that an immediate outcome results in a new individual (quality component). These components form a two-dimensional effectiveness landscape with each species' location determined by its values of quantity (x-axis) and quality (y-axis). We propose that the evolutionary history of mutualistic interactions leaves a footprint that can be identified by three properties of the spatial structure of effectiveness values: dispersion of effectiveness values, relative contribution of each component to the effectiveness values and correlation between effectiveness components. We illustrate this approach using a large dataset on synzoochory, seed dispersal by seed-caching animals. The synzoochory landscape was clumped, with effectiveness determined primarily by the quality component, and with quantity and quality positively correlated. We suggest this type of landscape structure is common in generalised coevolved mutualisms, where multiple functionally equivalent, high-quality partners exert similarly strong selection. Presumably, only those organisms located in high-quality regions will impact the evolution of their partner. Exploring properties of effectiveness landscapes in other mutualisms will provide new insight into the evolutionary and ecological consequences of mutualisms.
互作有效性是指一个相互作用的生物体对其伙伴适应度的贡献，它被定义为相互作用的直接结果数量（数量成分）乘以直接结果产生新个体的概率（质量成分）。这两个成分构成了一个二维有效性景观，每个物种的位置由其数量（x 轴）和质量（y 轴）的值决定。我们提出，互利相互作用的进化历史留下了一个可以通过有效性值的空间结构的三个特性来识别的足迹：有效性值的分散程度、每个成分对有效性值的相对贡献以及有效性成分之间的相关性。我们使用一个关于种子与动物共播（seed caching animals）的大型数据集来说明这种方法。synzoochory 景观呈块状，有效性主要由质量成分决定，数量和质量呈正相关。我们认为，这种类型的景观结构在广义共进化的互利关系中很常见，其中多个功能等效、高质量的伙伴施加类似的强选择。大概只有那些位于高质量区域的生物体才会影响它们伙伴的进化。探索其他互利关系中有效性景观的特性将为互利关系的进化和生态后果提供新的见解。
