Research on mutualisms between native and non-native partners can contribute critical ecological insights

  • Mutualisms are important structuring forces in ecological communities, influencing ecosystem functions, diversity, and evolutionary trajectories. New interactions, particularly between native and non-native species, are globally increasing in biotic communities as species introductions accelerate. Positive interactions such as novel mutualisms can affect the fitness of organisms in invaded communities. Non-natives can augment native mutualism networks, replace extinct native partners, or disrupt native mutualisms. Because they are actively forming or newly formed, novel mutualisms offer a unique opportunity to examine in real time the factors governing early mutualism formation and stability, including frequency-dependent processes and those relying on specific traits or functions. These central ecological questions have been inferred from long-formed mutualisms, but novel mutualisms may allow a glimpse of successes and failures in ecological time with insights into the relative importance of these factors as ecological systems shift. To this end, this commentary addresses how novel mutualisms inform our understanding of mutualism formation, stability, the importance of functional traits, and niche vs. neutral processes, using examples across multiple systems. Novel mutualism research thus far has been largely limited in both questions and ecosystems, but if more broadly applied could benefit both theoretical and applied ecology.

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Metadaten
Author:Clare E. Aslan, Benjamin A. Sikes, Keryn B. Gedan
URN:urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-454937
DOI:https://doi.org/10.3897/neobiota.26.8837
Parent Title (English):NeoBiota
Document Type:Article
Language:English
Year of first Publication:2015
Publishing Institution:Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg
Release Date:2018/01/25
Tag:Positive interactions; belowground; biological invasions; marine; non-native species; novel mutualisms
Volume:2015
Issue:26
Page Number:16
First Page:39
Last Page:54
HeBIS-PPN:425430723
Dewey Decimal Classification:5 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik / 57 Biowissenschaften; Biologie / 570 Biowissenschaften; Biologie
Sammlungen:Sammlung Biologie / Sondersammelgebiets-Volltexte
Zeitschriften / Jahresberichte:NeoBiota / NeoBiota 26
:urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-454921
Licence (German):License LogoCreative Commons - Namensnennung 4.0