publication . Article . 2016

Convergence in Multispecies Interactions

Name: Convergence in Multispecies Interactions
Keywords: community ecology, microbe, mutualism

Naomi E. Pierce; Anne Pringle; Leonora S. Bittleston; Aaron M. Ellison;

Open Access

Published: 01 Jan 2016 Journal: Trends in Ecology & Evolution, volume 31, pages 269-280 (issn: 0169-5347,

Publisher: Elsevier BV

Country: United States

Summary

Abstract

The concepts of convergent evolution and community convergence highlight how selective pressures can shape unrelated organisms or communities in similar ways. We propose a related concept, convergent interactions, to describe the independent evolution of multispecies interactions with similar physiological or ecological functions. A focus on convergent interactions clarifies how natural selection repeatedly favors particular kinds of associations among species. Characterizing convergent interactions in a comparative context is likely to facilitate prediction of the ecological roles of organisms (including microbes) in multispecies interactions, and selective pre...

doi: 10.1016/j.tree.2016.01.006 , 10.1016/j.tree.2016.01.006.

Subjects

free text keywords: community ecology, microbe, mutualism, Natural selection, Ecology, Biology, Symbiosis, Convergent evolution, Mutualism (biology), Ectomycorrhizae, Gut bacteria, Community, Food chain

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