The role of ploidy and reproduction method in the evolution of cooperation between species

• Grant number: 16/00635-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• Start date: February 29, 2016
• End date: February 27, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Physics - General Physics
• Principal Investigator: Marcus Aloizio Martinez de Aguiar
• Grantee: Flávia Maria Darcie Marquitti
• Supervisor: Simon Asher Levin
• Host Institution: Instituto de Física Gleb Wataghin (IFGW). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Princeton University, United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 15/11985-3 - Evolution of cooperation among different species, BP.PD

Abstract

Understanding the evolution of cooperation is an important topic in several areas of science, such as economics, politics, negotiations and agreements on climate change, biology, and many other areas. In biology, the cooperation between individuals of different species, called mutualism, involves ecological interactions such as pollination, protection from natural enemies, and trophic and sheltering interactions as mycorrhizae. Different species, here understood as different populations, evolve in response to selective pressures imposed by individuals of the same population over themselves, but also as a result of interactions with individuals from other populations. The symbiosis is a mutualistic interaction in which the partners became intrinsically (physically or physiologically) integrated. Many of this special type of mutualism comprise interactions between haploid and diploid organisms that reproduce sexually and asexually, respectively. Furthermore, the haploid species of these interactions are usually organisms with restricted locomotion at reproduction when compared with the diploid partner. Cheating the partner to obtain the profits of the interaction, but not giving anything in return, is a rare behavior in symbiosis. In this project, I propose to model the evolution of symbiosis taking into account the different reproduction methods and ploidies of the partners. I also intend to research how the spatial distribution of individuals with different ploidies and reproduction methods can affect the mutualism evolution as well as how fixation is reached. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

PIRES, MATHIAS M.; MARQUITTI, FLAVIA M. D.; GUIMARAES, JR., PAULO R.. The friendship paradox in species-rich ecological networks: Implications for conservation and monitoring. Biological Conservation, v. 209, p. 245-252, MAY 2017. (16/00635-4, 15/11985-3)

BARRETO, WENDELL P.; MARQUITTI, FLAVIA M. D.; DE AGUIAR, MARCUS A. M.. A genetic approach to the rock-paper-scissors game. Journal of Theoretical Biology, v. 421, p. 146-152, MAY 21 2017. (16/00635-4, 15/11985-3)