Indirect effects shape species fitness in coevolved mutualistic networks

Autor(es)

Cosmo, Leandro G. ; Assis, Ana Paula A. ; de Aguiar, Marcus A. M. ; Pires, Mathias M. ; Valido, Alfredo ; Jordano, Pedro ; Thompson, John N. ; Bascompte, Jordi ; Guimaraes Jr, Paulo R.

• Tipo de documento: Artigo Científico
• Fonte: Nature; v. N/A, p. 21-pg., 2023-07-19.

Resumo

Ecological interactions are one of the main forces that sustain Earth's biodiversity. A major challenge for studies of ecology and evolution is to determine how these interactions affect the fitness of species when we expand from studying isolated, pairwise interactions to include networks of interacting species(1-4). In networks, chains of effects caused by a range of species have an indirect effect on other species they do not interact with directly, potentially affecting the fitness outcomes of a variety of ecological interactions (such as mutualism)(5-7). Here we apply analytical techniques and numerical simulations to 186 empirical mutualistic networks and show how both direct and indirect effects alter the fitness of species coevolving in these networks. Although the fitness of species usually increased with the number of mutualistic partners, most of the fitness variation across species was driven by indirect effects. We found that these indirect effects prevent coevolving species from adapting to their mutualistic partners and to other sources of selection pressure in the environment, thereby decreasing their fitness. Such decreases are distributed in a predictable way within networks: peripheral species receive more indirect effects and experience higher reductions in fitness than central species. This topological effect was also evident when we analysed an empirical study of an invasion of pollination networks by honeybees. As honeybees became integrated as a central species within networks, they increased the contribution of indirect effects on several other species, reducing their fitness. Our study shows how and why indirect effects can govern the adaptive landscape of species-rich mutualistic assemblages. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 21/14335-0 - ICTP Instituto Sul-Americano para Física Fundamental: um centro regional para Física Teórica
• Beneficiário: Nathan Jacob Berkovits
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Projetos Especiais
• Processo FAPESP: 16/14277-2 - Como a correlação genética entre caracteres fenotípicos influência a coevolução entre espécies?
• Beneficiário: Ana Paula Aprígio Assis
• Modalidade de apoio: Bolsas no Brasil - Pós-Doutorado
• Processo FAPESP: 19/22146-3 - Como diferenças nos tempos de geração influenciam a coevolução em redes ecológicas?
• Beneficiário: Leandro Giacobelli Cosmo
• Modalidade de apoio: Bolsas no Brasil - Doutorado
• Processo FAPESP: 18/14809-0 - Dinâmica evolutiva em redes ecológicas
• Beneficiário: Paulo Roberto Guimarães Junior
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Jovens Pesquisadores - Fase 2
• Processo FAPESP: 19/25478-7 - Consequências da defaunação sobre a diversidade vegetal e serviços ecossistêmicos na Floresta Amazônica
• Beneficiário: Mathias Mistretta Pires
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Regular
• Processo FAPESP: 22/07939-0 - Como a coevolução em redes mutualísticas molda polimorfismos discretos?
• Beneficiário: Leandro Giacobelli Cosmo
• Modalidade de apoio: Bolsas no Exterior - Estágio de Pesquisa - Doutorado