The Impact of Mutualisms on Species Richness.

Chomicki G; Weber M; Antonelli A; Bascompte J; Kiers ET

doi:10.1016/j.tree.2019.03.003

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Journal article

The Impact of Mutualisms on Species Richness.

Chomicki G Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3RB, UK; The Queen's College, University of Oxford, High Street, Oxford OX1 4AW, UK. Electronic address: guillaume.chomicki@gmail.com.
Weber M Department of Plant Biology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA.
Antonelli A Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 3AE, UK; Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden; Gothenburg Global Biodiversity Centre, Gothenburg, Sweden.
Bascompte J Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
Kiers ET Department of Ecological Science, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU University), De Boelelaan, 1081 HV, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

2019-04-21

Published in:

Trends in ecology & evolution. - 2019

English Mutualisms - cooperative interactions among different species - are known to influence global biodiversity. Nevertheless, theoretical and empirical work has led to divergent hypotheses about how mutualisms modulate diversity. We ask here when and how mutualisms influence species richness. Our synthesis suggests that mutualisms can promote or restrict species richness depending on mutualist function, the level of partner dependence, and the specificity of the partnership. These characteristics, which themselves are influenced by environmental and geographic variables, regulate species richness at different scales by modulating speciation, extinction, and community coexistence. Understanding the relative impact of these mechanisms on species richness will require the integration of new phylogenetic comparative models as well as the manipulation and monitoring of experimental communities and their resulting interaction networks.

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