Niche Differentiation in the Dynamics of Host-Symbiont Interactions: Symbiont Prevalence as a Coexistence Problem

Simple item page
dc.citation.firstpage506
dc.citation.issueNumber4
dc.citation.journalTitleThe American Naturalist
dc.citation.lastpage518
dc.citation.volumeNumber183
dc.contributor.authorMiller, Tom E.X.
dc.contributor.authorRudgers, Jennifer A.
dc.date.accessioned2014-03-28T21:55:02Z
dc.date.available2014-03-28T21:55:02Z
dc.date.issued2014-04
dc.description.abstractHeritable symbioses can have important ecological effects and have triggered important evolutionary innovations. Current predictions for long-term symbiont prevalence are based on their fitness benefits and vertical transmission rates but ignore nonlinear competitive feedbacks among symbiotic and symbiont-free hosts. We hypothesized that such feedbacks function as stabilizing mechanisms, promoting coexistence of host types and maintaining intermediate symbiont frequency at the population scale. Using a model grass/endophyte symbiosis, we manipulated competition within and between endophyte-symbiotic (E+) and endophyte-free (E-) hosts and fit competition models to experimental data. We show for the first time that symbiont-structured competition can generate stable coexistence of E+ and E- hosts, even under perfect vertical transmission. Niche differentiation was the key to coexistence, causing hosts of each type to limit themselves more strongly than each other. These results establish roles for nonlinear competitive dynamics and niche differentiation in the ecology and evolution of heritable symbionts.
dc.identifier.citationMiller, Tom E.X. and Rudgers, Jennifer A.. "Niche Differentiation in the Dynamics of Host-Symbiont Interactions: Symbiont Prevalence as a Coexistence Problem." <i>The American Naturalist,</i> 183, no. 4 (2014) The University of Chicago Press: 506-518. http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/675394.
dc.identifier.doihttp://dx.doi.org/10.1086/675394
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1911/75785
dc.language.isoeng
dc.publisherThe University of Chicago Press
dc.rightsArticle is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
dc.subject.keywordcompetitive coexistence
dc.subject.keywordecological niche
dc.subject.keywordhost-symbiont interactions
dc.subject.keywordvertical transmission
dc.titleNiche Differentiation in the Dynamics of Host-Symbiont Interactions: Symbiont Prevalence as a Coexistence Problem
dc.typeJournal article
dc.type.dcmiText
dc.type.publicationpublisher version
Files
Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
675394.pdf
Size:
606.69 KB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Download
Collections
Faculty Publications
EEB Faculty Publications