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Smith CI, Leebens-Mack JH. 150 Years of Coevolution Research: Evolution and Ecology of Yucca Moths (Prodoxidae) and Their Hosts. ANNUAL REVIEW OF ENTOMOLOGY 2024; 69:375-391. [PMID: 37758220 DOI: 10.1146/annurev-ento-022723-104346] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/03/2023]
Abstract
Yucca moths (Tegeticula and Parategeticula) are specialized pollinators of yucca plants, possessing unique, tentacle-like mouthparts used to actively collect pollen and deposit it onto the flowers of their hosts. The moths' larvae feed on the developing seeds and fruit tissue. First described in 1873, the yucca-yucca moth pollination system is now considered the archetypical example of a coevolved intimate mutualism. Research conducted over the past three decades has transformed our understanding of yucca moth diversity and host plant interactions. We summarize the current understanding of the diversity, ecology, and evolution of this group, review evidence for coevolution of the insects and their hosts, and describe how the nature of the interaction varies across evolutionary time and ecological contexts. Finally, we identify unresolved questions and areas for future research.
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Dong Y, Zhang ZR, Mishra S, Wong ACN, Huang JF, Wang B, Peng YQ, Gao J. Diversity and metabolic potentials of microbial communities associated with pollinator and cheater fig wasps in fig-fig wasp mutualism system. Front Microbiol 2022; 13:1009919. [DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.1009919] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2022] [Accepted: 10/14/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Microbial symbionts can influence a myriad of insect behavioral and physiological traits. However, how microbial communities may shape or be shaped by insect interactions with plants and neighboring species remains underexplored. The fig-fig wasp mutualism system offers a unique model to study the roles of microbiome in the interactions between the plants and co-habiting insects because a confined fig environment is shared by two fig wasp species, the pollinator wasp (Eupristina altissima and Eupristina verticillata) and the cheater wasp (Eupristina sp1 and Eupristina sp2). Here, we performed whole genome resequencing (WGS) on 48 individual fig wasps (Eupristina spp.) from Yunnan, China, to reveal the phylogenetic relationship and genetic divergence between pollinator and congeneric cheater wasps associated with the Ficus trees. We then extracted metagenomic sequences to explore the compositions, network structures, and functional capabilities of microbial communities associated with these wasps. We found that the cheaters and pollinators from the same fig species are sister species, which are highly genetically divergent. Fig wasps harbor diverse but stable microbial communities. Fig species dominate over the fig wasp genotype in shaping the bacterial and fungal communities. Variation in microbial communities may be partially explained by the filtering effect from fig and phylogeny of fig wasps. It is worth noting that cheaters have similar microbial communities to their sister pollinators, which may allow cheaters to coexist and gain resources from the same fig species. In terms of metabolic capabilities, some bacteria such as Desulfovibrio and Lachnospiraceae are candidates involved in the nutritional uptake of fig wasps. Our results provide novel insights into how microbiome community and metabolic functions may couple with the fig-wasp mutualistic systems.
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Volp TM, Cernusak LA, Lach L. Epiphytic ant‐plant obtains nitrogen from both native and invasive ant inhabitants. Biotropica 2022. [DOI: 10.1111/btp.13104] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Trevor M. Volp
- College Science and Engineering James Cook University Cairns Queensland Australia
- Department of Agriculture and Fisheries Agri‐Science Queensland Toowoomba Queensland Australia
- School of Biological Sciences The University of Queensland Brisbane Queensland Australia
| | - Lucas A. Cernusak
- College Science and Engineering James Cook University Cairns Queensland Australia
| | - Lori Lach
- College Science and Engineering James Cook University Cairns Queensland Australia
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Wang Z, Yang X, Zhang Z, Shi F, Li H. Multiple Coexisting Species and the First Known Case of a Cheater in Epicephala (Gracillariidae) Associated with a Species of Glochidion (Phyllanthaceae) in Tropical Asia. JOURNAL OF INSECT SCIENCE (ONLINE) 2020; 20:5897084. [PMID: 32841344 PMCID: PMC7447135 DOI: 10.1093/jisesa/ieaa081] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2020] [Indexed: 05/27/2023]
Abstract
Glochidion plants and Epicephala moths played different roles and kept the balance in the mutualism. We studied the four coexisting Epicephala species on Glochidion sphaerogynum in detail and reconstructed the phylogenic tree of 40 Gracillariidae species. The results showed that one of them (Epicephala impolliniferens) did not pollinate G. sphaerogynum, because of lacking the specialized structure of carrying pollen. These results suggested that E. impolliniferens acted as a 'cheater' in the system. The phylogenetic analyses suggested that E. impolliniferens derived from a pollinating species, and had secondarily gave up the ability to pollinate. This is a typical phenomenon of mutualism reversal. The phenomenon exhibits the co-evolutionary diversification under selection pressures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhibo Wang
- College of Life Sciences, Nankai University, Tianjin, China
| | - Xiaofei Yang
- College of Life Sciences, Nankai University, Tianjin, China
| | - Zhenguo Zhang
- College of Life Sciences, Nankai University, Tianjin, China
| | - Fuchen Shi
- College of Life Sciences, Nankai University, Tianjin, China
| | - Houhun Li
- College of Life Sciences, Nankai University, Tianjin, China
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Sun Z, Koffel T, Stump SM, Grimaud GM, Klausmeier CA. Microbial cross-feeding promotes multiple stable states and species coexistence, but also susceptibility to cheaters. J Theor Biol 2019; 465:63-77. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2019.01.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/03/2018] [Revised: 12/07/2018] [Accepted: 01/08/2019] [Indexed: 01/22/2023]
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Thompson JN, Schwind C, Friberg M. Diversification of Trait Combinations in Coevolving Plant and Insect Lineages. Am Nat 2017; 190:171-184. [PMID: 28731801 DOI: 10.1086/692164] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
Closely related species often have similar traits and sometimes interact with the same species. A crucial problem in evolutionary ecology is therefore to understand how coevolving species diverge when they interact with a set of closely related species from another lineage rather than with a single species. We evaluated geographic differences in the floral morphology of all woodland star plant species (Lithophragma, Saxifragaceae) that are pollinated by Greya (Prodoxidae) moths. Flowers of each woodland star species differed depending on whether plants interact locally with one, two, or no pollinating moth species. Plants of one species grown in six different environments showed few differences in floral traits, suggesting that the geographic differences are not due significantly to trait plasticity. Greya moth populations also showed significant geographic divergence in morphology, depending on the local host and on whether the moth species co-occurred locally. Divergence in the plants and the moths involved shifts in combinations of partially correlated traits, rather than any one trait. The results indicate that the geographic mosaic of coevolution can be amplified as coevolving lineages diversify into separate species and come together in different combinations in different ecosystems.
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Abstract
Cooperation between organisms can often be understood, like trade between merchants, as a mutually beneficial exchange of services, resources or other 'commodities'. Mutual benefits alone, however, are not sufficient to explain the evolution of trade-based cooperation. First, organisms may reject a particular trade if another partner offers a better deal. Second, while human trade often entails binding contracts, non-human trade requires unwritten 'terms of contract' that 'self-stabilize' trade and prevent cheating even if all traders strive to maximize fitness. Whenever trading partners can be chosen, market-like situations arise in nature that biologists studying cooperation need to account for. The mere possibility of exerting partner choice stabilizes many forms of otherwise cheatable trade, induces competition, facilitates the evolution of specialization and often leads to intricate forms of cooperation. We discuss selected examples to illustrate these general points and review basic conceptual approaches that are important in the theory of biological trade and markets. Comparing these approaches with theory in economics, it turns out that conventional models-often called 'Walrasian' markets-are of limited relevance to biology. In contrast, early approaches to trade and markets, as found in the works of Ricardo and Cournot, contain elements of thought that have inspired useful models in biology. For example, the concept of comparative advantage has biological applications in trade, signalling and ecological competition. We also see convergence between post-Walrasian economics and biological markets. For example, both economists and biologists are studying 'principal-agent' problems with principals offering jobs to agents without being sure that the agents will do a proper job. Finally, we show that mating markets have many peculiarities not shared with conventional economic markets. Ideas from economics are useful for biologists studying cooperation but need to be taken with caution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter Hammerstein
- Institute for Theoretical Biology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin 10115, Germany
| | - Ronald Noë
- Faculté Psychologie, Université de Strasbourg, Strasbourg 67000, France
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Frederickson ME. Rethinking mutualism stability: cheaters and the evolution of sanctions. QUARTERLY REVIEW OF BIOLOGY 2014; 88:269-95. [PMID: 24552098 DOI: 10.1086/673757] [Citation(s) in RCA: 92] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
How cooperation originates and persists in diverse species, from bacteria to multicellular organisms to human societies, is a major question in evolutionary biology. A large literature asks: what prevents selection for cheating within cooperative lineages? In mutualisms, or cooperative interactions between species, feedback between partners often aligns their fitness interests, such that cooperative symbionts receive more benefits from their hosts than uncooperative symbionts. But how do these feedbacks evolve? Cheaters might invade symbiont populations and select for hosts that preferentially reward or associate with cooperators (often termed sanctions or partner choice); hosts might adapt to variation in symbiont quality that does not amount to cheating (e.g., environmental variation); or conditional host responses might exist before cheaters do, making mutualisms stable from the outset. I review evidence from yucca-yucca moth, fig-fig wasp, and legume-rhizobium mutualisms, which are commonly cited as mutualisms stabilized by sanctions. Based on the empirical evidence, it is doubtful that cheaters select for host sanctions in these systems; cheaters are too uncommon. Recognizing that sanctions likely evolved for functions other than retaliation against cheaters offers many insights about mutualism coevolution, and about why mutualism evolves in only some lineages of potential hosts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Megan E Frederickson
- Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3G5, Canada.
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Althoff DM. SHIFT IN EGG-LAYING STRATEGY TO AVOID PLANT DEFENSE LEADS TO REPRODUCTIVE ISOLATION IN MUTUALISTIC AND CHEATING YUCCA MOTHS. Evolution 2013; 68:301-7. [DOI: 10.1111/evo.12279] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/27/2013] [Accepted: 09/19/2013] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- David M. Althoff
- Department of Biology; Syracuse University; 107 College Place Syracuse New York 13244
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Orona-Tamayo D, Heil M. Stabilizing Mutualisms Threatened by Exploiters: New Insights from Ant-Plant Research. Biotropica 2013. [DOI: 10.1111/btp.12059] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Domancar Orona-Tamayo
- Departamento de Ingeniería Genética; CINVESTAV-Irapuato; Irapuato Guanajuato Mexico
- Instituto de Investigaciones Químico-Biológicas; Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo (UMSNH); Edif. B3, Ciudad Universitaria 58060 Morelia Michoacán Mexico
| | - Martin Heil
- Departamento de Ingeniería Genética; CINVESTAV-Irapuato; Irapuato Guanajuato Mexico
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Diversification through multitrait evolution in a coevolving interaction. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2013; 110:11487-92. [PMID: 23801764 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1307451110] [Citation(s) in RCA: 54] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Mutualisms between species are interactions in which reciprocal exploitation results in outcomes that are mutually beneficial. This reciprocal exploitation is evident in the more than a thousand plant species that are pollinated exclusively by insects specialized to lay their eggs in the flowers they pollinate. By pollinating each flower in which she lays eggs, an insect guarantees that her larval offspring have developing seeds on which to feed, whereas the plant gains a specialized pollinator at the cost of some seeds. These mutualisms are often reciprocally obligate, potentially driving not only ongoing coadaptation but also diversification. The lack of known intermediate stages in most of these mutualisms, however, makes it difficult to understand whether these interactions could have begun to diversify even before they became reciprocally obligate. Experimental studies of the incompletely obligate interactions between woodland star (Lithophragma; Saxifragaceae) plants and their pollinating floral parasites in the moth genus Greya (Prodoxidae) show that, as these lineages have diversified, the moths and plants have evolved in ways that maintain effective oviposition and pollination. Experimental assessment of pollination in divergent species and quantitative evaluation of time-lapse photographic sequences of pollination viewed on surgically manipulated flowers show that various combinations of traits are possible for maintaining the mutualism. The results suggest that at least some forms of mutualism can persist and even diversify when the interaction is not reciprocally obligate.
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Fruteau C, van de Waal E, van Damme E, Noë R. Infant access and handling in sooty mangabeys and vervet monkeys. Anim Behav 2011. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2010.09.028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
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Thompson JN, Laine AL, Thompson JF. Retention of mutualism in a geographically diverging interaction. Ecol Lett 2010; 13:1368-77. [PMID: 20825452 DOI: 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2010.01529.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
A current challenge in coevolutionary biology is to understand how interactions between pairs of species change as they diversify into multispecific interactions. We tested whether the previously demonstrated pairwise mutualism between the widespread pollinating floral parasite Greya politella and its Lithophragma hostplants is ecologically enhanced or diminished in a region in which another Greya species, Greya obscura, uses the same host, Lithophragma cymbalaria. Field surveys and experimental trials showed that pollination efficacy by G. politella was more than an order of magnitude higher than by G. obscura, but G. politella abundance varied greatly between years. Greya obscura had a strongly positive effect on seed set in a year when G. politella densities were exceptionally low. Our results suggest that the coevolving mutualism between Greya and Lithophragma has potentially been enhanced rather than diminished as this interaction has diversified in the number of pollinating Greya species.
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Affiliation(s)
- John N Thompson
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA.
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Drummond CS, Xue HJ, Yoder JB, Pellmyr O. Host-associated divergence and incipient speciation in the yucca moth Prodoxus coloradensis (Lepidoptera: Prodoxidae) on three species of host plants. Heredity (Edinb) 2009; 105:183-96. [PMID: 20010961 DOI: 10.1038/hdy.2009.154] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
A wide range of evolutionary processes have been implicated in the diversification of yuccas and yucca moths, which exhibit ecological relationships that extend from obligate plant-pollinator mutualisms to commensalist herbivory. Prodoxus coloradensis (Lepidoptera: Prodoxidae) is a yucca moth, which feeds on the flowering stalks of three Yucca species as larvae, but does not provide pollination service. To test for evidence of host-associated speciation, we examined the genetic structure of P. coloradensis using mitochondrial (cytochrome oxidase I) and nuclear (elongation factor 1 alpha) DNA sequence data. Multilocus coalescent simulations indicate that moths on different host plant species are characterized by recent divergence and low levels of effective migration, with large effective population sizes and considerable retention of shared ancestral polymorphism. Although geographical distance explains a proportion of the mitochondrial and nuclear DNA variation among moths on different species of Yucca, the effect of host specificity on genetic distance remains significant after accounting for spatial isolation. The results of this study indicate that differentiation within P. coloradensis is consistent with the evolution of incipient species affiliated with different host plants, potentially influenced by sex-biased dispersal and female philopatry.
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Affiliation(s)
- C S Drummond
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID 83844, USA.
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Heil M, Orona-Tamayo D, Eilmus S, Kautz S, González-Teuber M. Chemical communication and coevolution in an ant–plant mutualism. CHEMOECOLOGY 2009. [DOI: 10.1007/s00049-009-0036-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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Divergent investment strategies of Acacia myrmecophytes and the coexistence of mutualists and exploiters. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2009; 106:18091-6. [PMID: 19717429 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0904304106] [Citation(s) in RCA: 89] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Ant-plant interactions represent a diversity of strategies, from exploitative to mutualistic, and how these strategies evolve is poorly understood. Here, we link physiological, ecological, and phylogenetic approaches to study the evolution and coexistence of strategies in the Acacia-Pseudomyrmex system. Host plant species represented 2 different strategies. High-reward hosts produced significantly more extrafloral nectar (EFN), food bodies, and nesting space than low-reward hosts, even when being inhabited by the same species of ant mutualist. High-reward hosts were more effectively defended against herbivores and exploited to a lower extent by nondefending ants than low-reward hosts. At the phenotypic level, secretion of EFN and ant activity were positively correlated and a mutualistic ant species induced nectar secretion, whereas a nondefending exploiter did not. All of these mechanisms contribute to the stable association of high-reward hosts with defending ant species. However, exploiter ants are less dependent on the host-derived rewards and can colonize considerable proportions of the low-reward hosts. Mapping these strategies onto phylogenetic trees demonstrated that the low-reward hosts represent the derived clade within a monophyletic group of obligate ant plants and that the observed exploiter ant species evolved their strategy without having a mutualistic ancestor. We conclude that both types of host strategies coexist because of variable net outcomes of different investment-payoff regimes and that the effects of exploiters on the outcome of mutualisms can, thus, increase the diversity within the taxa involved.
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Small-scale indirect effects determine the outcome of a tripartite plant–disperser–granivore interaction. Oecologia 2009; 161:529-37. [DOI: 10.1007/s00442-009-1404-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/21/2008] [Accepted: 06/15/2009] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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Little AEF, Currie CR. Parasites may help stabilize cooperative relationships. BMC Evol Biol 2009; 9:124. [PMID: 19486536 PMCID: PMC2701933 DOI: 10.1186/1471-2148-9-124] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/17/2009] [Accepted: 06/01/2009] [Indexed: 12/05/2022] Open
Abstract
Background The persistence of cooperative relationships is an evolutionary paradox; selection should favor those individuals that exploit their partners (cheating), resulting in the breakdown of cooperation over evolutionary time. Our current understanding of the evolutionary stability of mutualisms (cooperation between species) is strongly shaped by the view that they are often maintained by partners having mechanisms to avoid or retaliate against exploitation by cheaters. In contrast, we empirically and theoretically examine how additional symbionts, specifically specialized parasites, potentially influence the stability of bipartite mutualistic associations. In our empirical work we focus on the obligate mutualism between fungus-growing ants and the fungi they cultivate for food. This mutualism is exploited by specialized microfungal parasites (genus Escovopsis) that infect the ant's fungal gardens. Using sub-colonies of fungus-growing ants, we investigate the interactions between the fungus garden parasite and cooperative and experimentally-enforced uncooperative ("cheating") pairs of ants and fungi. To further examine if parasites have the potential to help stabilize some mutualisms we conduct Iterative Prisoner's Dilemma (IPD) simulations, a common framework for predicting the outcomes of cooperative/non-cooperative interactions, which incorporate parasitism as an additional factor. Results In our empirical work employing sub-colonies of fungus-growing ants, we found that Escovopsis-infected sub-colonies composed of cheating populations of ants or fungi lost significantly more garden biomass than sub-colonies subjected to infection or cheating (ants or fungi) alone. Since the loss of fungus garden compromises the fitness of both mutualists, our findings suggest that the potential benefit received by the ants or fungi for cheating is outweighed by the increased concomitant cost of parasitism engendered by non-cooperation (cheating). IPD simulations support our empirical results by confirming that a purely cooperative strategy, which is unsuccessful in the classic IPD model, becomes stable when parasites are included. Conclusion Here we suggest, and provide evidence for, parasitism being an external force that has the potential to help stabilize cooperation by aligning the selfish interests of cooperative partners in opposition to a common enemy. Specifically, our empirical results and IPD simulations suggest that when two mutualists share a common enemy selection can favor cooperation over cheating, which may help explain the evolutionary stability of some mutualisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ainslie E F Little
- Department of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA.
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Kautz S, Lumbsch HT, Ward PS, Heil M. HOW TO PREVENT CHEATING: A DIGESTIVE SPECIALIZATION TIES MUTUALISTIC PLANT-ANTS TO THEIR ANT-PLANT PARTNERS. Evolution 2009; 63:839-53. [PMID: 19210534 DOI: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.2008.00594.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Stefanie Kautz
- Department of General Botany-Plant Ecology, University Duisburg-Essen, Universitätsstrasse 5, D-45117 Essen, Germany
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Abstract
Endosymbionts and their hosts have inherently ambiguous relationships as symbionts typically depend upon their hosts for shelter, nutrition, and reproduction. Endosymbionts can acquire these needs by two alternative strategies: exploitation and cooperation. Parasites exploit hosts to advance their own reproduction at the cost of host fitness. In contrast, mutualists increase their reproductive output by increasing host fitness. Very often the distinction between parasites and mutualists is not discrete but rather contingent on the environment in which the interaction occurs, and can shift along a continuous scale from parasitism to mutualism. The cost benefit dynamics at any point along this continuum are of particular interest as they establish the likelihood of an interaction persisting or breaking down. Here we show how the interaction between the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and an endosymbiotic killer virus is strongly dependent on both host ploidy and environmental pH. Additionally we elucidate the mechanisms underlying the ploidy-dependent interaction. Understanding these dynamics in the short-term is key to understanding how genetic and environmental factors impact community diversity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert McBride
- Department of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Houston, 369 Science and Research Bldg 2, Houston, Texas 77204, USA.
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PELLMYR OLLE, BALCÁZAR-LARA MANUEL, SEGRAVES KARIA, ALTHOFF DAVIDM, LITTLEFIELD RIKJ. Phylogeny of the pollinating yucca moths, with revision of Mexican species (Tegeticula and Parategeticula; Lepidoptera, Prodoxidae). Zool J Linn Soc 2008. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1096-3642.2007.00361.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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Kawakita A, Kato M. Assessment of the diversity and species specificity of the mutualistic association between Epicephala moths and Glochidion trees. Mol Ecol 2006; 15:3567-81. [PMID: 17032258 DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-294x.2006.03037.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
The obligate mutualisms between flowering plants and their seed-parasitic pollinators constitute fascinating examples of interspecific mutualisms, which are often characterized by high levels of species diversity and reciprocal species specificity. The diversification in these mutualisms has been thought to occur through simultaneous speciation of the partners, mediated by tight reciprocal adaptation; however, recent studies cast doubt over this general view. In this study, we examine the diversity and species specificity of Epicephala moths (Gracillariidae) that pollinate Glochidion trees (Phyllanthaceae), using analysis of mitochondrial and nuclear gene sequences. Phylogenetic analysis of Epicephala moths associated with five Glochidion species in Japan and Taiwan reveal six genetically isolated species that are also distinguishable by male genital morphology: (i) two species specific to single host species (G. acuminatum and G. zeylanicum, respectively); (ii) two species that coexist on G. lanceolatum; and (iii) two species that share two, closely-related parapatric hosts (G. obovatum and G. rubrum). Statistical analysis shows that the two species associated with G. lanceolatum are not sister species, indicating the colonization of novel Glochidion host in at least one lineage. Behavioural observations suggest that all six species possess the actively-pollinating habit, thus none of the studied species has become a nonmutualistic 'cheater' that exploits the benefit resulting from pollination by other species. Our results parallel recent findings in ecologically similar associations, namely the fig-fig wasp and yucca-yucca moth mutualisms, and contribute to a more general understanding of the factors that determine ecological and evolutionary outcomes in these mutualisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Atsushi Kawakita
- Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies, Kyoto University, Yoshida-Nihonmatsu-cho, Sakyo, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan.
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Althoff DM, Segraves KA, Leebens-Mack J, Pellmyr O. Patterns of Speciation in the Yucca Moths: Parallel Species Radiations within the Tegeticula yuccasella Species Complex. Syst Biol 2006; 55:398-410. [PMID: 16684719 DOI: 10.1080/10635150600697325] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/24/2022] Open
Abstract
The interaction between yuccas and yucca moths has been central to understanding the origin and loss of obligate mutualism and mutualism reversal. Previous systematic research using mtDNA sequence data and characters associated with genitalic morphology revealed that a widespread pollinator species in the genus Tegeticula was in fact a complex of pollinator species that differed in host use and the placement of eggs into yucca flowers. Within this mutualistic clade two nonpollinating "cheater" species evolved. Cheaters feed on yucca seeds but lack the tentacular mouthparts necessary for yucca pollination. Previous work suggested that the species complex formed via a rapid radiation within the last several million years. In this study, we use an expanded mtDNA sequence data set and AFLP markers to examine the phylogenetic relationships among this rapidly diverging clade of moths and compare these relationships to patterns in genitalic morphology. Topologies obtained from analyses of the mtDNA and AFLP data differed significantly. Both data sets, however, corroborated the hypothesis of a rapid species radiation and suggested that there were likely two independent species radiations. Morphological analyses based on oviposition habit produced species groupings more similar to the AFLP topology than the mtDNA topology and suggested the two radiations coincided with differences in oviposition habit. The evolution of cheating was reaffirmed to have evolved twice and the closest pollinating relative for one cheater species was identified by both mtDNA and AFLP markers. For the other cheater species, however, the closest pollinating relative remains ambiguous, and mtDNA, AFLP, and morphological data suggest this cheater species may be diverged based on host use. Much of the divergence in the species complex can be explained by geographic isolation associated with the evolution of two oviposition habits.
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Affiliation(s)
- David M Althoff
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho 83844-3051, USA.
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Herre EA. EXPLORING THE IMPLICATIONS OF MOSAIC COEVOLUTIONARY OUTCOMES. Evolution 2006. [DOI: 10.1111/j.0014-3820.2006.tb01163.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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Affiliation(s)
- Edward Allen Herre
- Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado 0843-03092, Panama City, Republic of Panama.
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Herre EA. EXPLORING THE IMPLICATIONS OF MOSAIC COEVOLUTIONARY OUTCOMES1. Evolution 2006. [DOI: 10.1554/br06-07.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
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