Mutualism & Commensalism

Photo of hawk moth potentially pollinating Dianthus from Wikimedia Commons

 Positive Interactions
Facilitation – in other words, “+” means benefits outweigh costs

Commensalism = +/0
Mutualism = +/+

What might the benefits and costs be to

each partner in a pollination mutualism?

Photo of hawk moth potentially pollinating Dianthus from Wikimedia Commons

 Obligate vs. Facultative Mutualisms
Obligate – not optional, e.g., fig - fig wasp
Facultative – optional, e.g., fig - seed disperser

Fig & one of its many seed-dispersers

Fig & its pollinating fig wasps (in this case a frugivorous bat)

Photo of fig & fig wasps from http://www.zoology.ubc.ca;

photo of bat & figs from http://www.sserc.org.uk/wwwroot2/members/Photos/Plants/seed%20dispersal/Menu.htm
 Types of Benefits to Mutualists
Service Mutualisms
One partner receives an ecological service from the other – e.g., pollination,
seed dispersal, or defense against herbivores, predators, or parasites

E.g., ant - bullhorn acacia

Photo from Wikimedia Commons

 Types of Benefits to Mutualists
Habitat Mutualisms
One partner obtains shelter, a place to live, or favorable habitat from the other

E.g., alpheid shrimp - goby symbiosis

Photo from Wikimedia Commons

 Types of Benefits to Mutualists
Trophic Mutualisms
One partner receives energy or nutrients from its partner

E.g., mychorrizae – plant root - fungus symbiosis

Photomicrograph from Wikimedia Commons

 Mutualists Are Not Altruists
Each mutualistic partner seeks to gain benefit from the other
(just like a parasite seeks to gain benefit from a host);
this can create conflicts

Yuccas
selectively
abort flowers
into which too
many eggs are
laid

Photo of yucca moth from:

http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/course/ent425/images/pollinators_gallery/pages/06_yucca_moth_jpg.htm;
Harms’s photo of yuccas in White Sands Nat’l. Park, NM;
Cain, Bowman & Hacker (2014), Fig. 15.16, after Pellmyr & Huth (1994) Nature
 Cheaters can be Penalized or Sanctioned
Split-plate design: (A) plant roots labeled with 14C;
(B) mycorrhizal fungus without P;
(C) mycorrhizal fungus with P (either 35 M or 700 M)

Plant can penalize fungus

(for poor P delivery)
with low C delivery

B C

Kiers et al. (2011) Science

 Cheaters can be Penalized or Sanctioned
Split-plate design: (A) plant roots labeled with 14C;
(B) mycorrhizal fungus without P;
(C) mycorrhizal fungus with P (either 35 M or 700 M)

Plant can penalize fungus Title of the

(for poor P delivery) project:
with low C delivery
“Reciprocal
A rewards
stabilize
B C cooperation in
Fungus can penalize plant the mycorrhizal
(for poor C delivery)
with low P delivery symbiosis”

Split-plate design: (A) fungal hyphae labeled with 33P;

(B) roots with no access to sucrose;
(C) roots with access to sucrose (either 5 mM or 25 mM)
Kiers et al. (2011) Science
 Mutualisms Can Evolve From Other Types of
Species Interactions
The heart-warming tale of a reformed parasite

Notorious filamentous fungal pathogen,

Colletotrichum magna, causes anthracnose
disease in cucurbits

Member of a large clade of pathogens

capable of infecting the majority of
agricultural crops worldwide

Infection occurs when spores adhere to host

tissue, enter a cell, and subsequently grow
through the host leaving a trail of necrotic
tissue

Original research from Freeman & Rodriguez (1993) Science;

photo of anthracnose on cucumber leaf from
http://urbanext.illinois.edu/hortanswers/detailproblem.cfm?PathogenID=128
 Mutualisms Can Evolve From Other Types of
Species Interactions
The heart-warming tale of a reformed parasite

“Path-1” = single-locus mutant of C. magna that spreads throughout the host

(albeit more slowly) without necrosis & is a non-sporulating endophyte

Plants infected with Path-1 were protected

from the wild-type & were immune to an
unrelated pathogenic fungus, Fusarium
oxysporum

Path-1 may induce host defenses against

pathogens or may outcompete other fungi

Considerable potential exists to tailor

endophytes as biocontrol agents; an
example of Darwinian Agriculture
Original research from Freeman & Rodriguez (1993) Science;
photo of cucurbits grown without (left) and with (right) Path-1 C. magna, both in the presence of Fusarium, from
http://wfrc.usgs.gov/research/contaminants/STRodriguez4.htm
 Species Interactions Can Vary Geographically,
Temporally, or in Other Context-Dependent Ways
Cattail facilitated small-
flowered forget-me-not at low
soil temp. (possibly owing to
soil aeration)

Photo of cattail from Wikimedia Commons;

Cain, Bowman & Hacker (2014), Fig. 15.9, after Callaway & King (1996) Ecology
 Species Interactions Can Vary Geographically,
Temporally, or in Other Context-Dependent Ways
Cattail facilitated small-
flowered forget-me-not at low
soil temp. (possibly owing to
soil aeration)

Cattail competed with small-

flowered forget-me-not at
high soil temp.
Photo of cattail from Wikimedia Commons;
Cain, Bowman & Hacker (2014), Fig. 15.9, after Callaway & King (1996) Ecology
 *When is it Coevolution?
Reciprocal adaptive evolution in each of 2 interacting species
in response to adaptations in the other species

“Darwin’s hawk moth”

Daniel H. Janzen potentially pollinating its
e.g., ant-acacia mutualism Malagasy orchid

Photo of Janzen from http://www.fbbva.es/TLFU/tlfu/ing/microsites/

premios/fronteras/galardonados/2011/ecologia.jsp;
image of “Darwin’s hawk moth” pollinating its Malagasy orchid from
http://botany.si.edu/events/sbsarchives/sbs2008;
*original idea from Janzen (1980) Evolution
 Positive interactions can influence individuals,
populations, interactions between species, communities
& ecosystems
Zoxanthellae = unicellular algal protist symbionts with corals

A world without
zoxanthellae would be
a world without most
shallow-water corals

Imagine a world
without corals

Photomicrograph from Wikimedia Commons

 Mutualism does not occur in isolation
from other species interactions
E.g., “Aprovechados” (parasites of mutualisms)
sensu Mainero & Martinez del Rio 1985

Parasitic fig wasp

Photo from http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/the-queen-of-trees/photo-essay-an-extraordinary-

ecosystem/1356/attachment/gal23/
 Mutualism does not occur in isolation
from other species interactions
E.g., Interactions among mutualists of semi-independent function

E.g., Ants that act as defense mutualists against

herbivores may influence pollinators’
activities & pollination success
(see: Wagner 2000; Willmer & Stone 1997)

Photo from http://coronadetucson.blogspot.com/2009_03_01_archive.html

 Indirect Mutualisms
“The enemy of my enemy is my friend”
(e.g., plants whose defenses enlist the services of the “third trophic level”)

- +

+ 2 +

- +

Me
 Indirect Mutualisms
“The friend of my friend may be my friend too”
(e.g., a seed-disperser may be an indirect mutualist of a
pollinator of the same plant)

Me + 2

+ +
+ +