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Context‐dependent outcomes in a reproductive mutualism between two freshwater fish species

1. The development of encompassing general models of ecology is precluded by underrepresentation of certain taxa and systems. Models predicting context‐dependent outcomes of biotic interactions have been tested using plants and bacteria, but their applicability to higher taxa is largely unknown. 2....

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Autores principales: Peoples, Brandon K., Frimpong, Emmanuel A.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4761764/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26941947
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.1979
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author Peoples, Brandon K.
Frimpong, Emmanuel A.
author_facet Peoples, Brandon K.
Frimpong, Emmanuel A.
author_sort Peoples, Brandon K.
collection PubMed
description 1. The development of encompassing general models of ecology is precluded by underrepresentation of certain taxa and systems. Models predicting context‐dependent outcomes of biotic interactions have been tested using plants and bacteria, but their applicability to higher taxa is largely unknown. 2. We examined context dependency in a reproductive mutualism between two stream fish species: mound nest‐building bluehead chub Nocomis leptocephalus and mountain redbelly dace Chrosomus oreas, which often uses N. leptocephalus nests for spawning. We hypothesized that increased predator density and decreased substrate availability would increase the propensity of C. oreas to associate with N. leptocephalus and decrease reproductive success of both species. 3. In a large‐scale in situ experiment, we manipulated egg predator density and presence of both symbionts (biotic context), and replicated the experiment in habitats containing high‐ and low‐quality spawning substrate (abiotic context). 4. Contradictory to our first hypothesis, we observed that C. oreas did not spawn without its host. The interaction outcome switched from commensalistic to mutualistic with changing abiotic and biotic contexts, although the net outcome was mutualistic. 5. The results of this study yielded novel insight into how context dependency operates in vertebrate mutualisms. Although the dilution effect provided by C. oreas positively influenced reproductive success of N. leptocephalus, it was not enough to overcome both egg predation and poor spawning habitat quality. Outcomes of the interaction may be ultimately determined by associate density. Studies of context dependency in vertebrate systems require detailed knowledge of species life‐history traits.
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spelling pubmed-47617642016-03-03 Context‐dependent outcomes in a reproductive mutualism between two freshwater fish species Peoples, Brandon K. Frimpong, Emmanuel A. Ecol Evol Original Research 1. The development of encompassing general models of ecology is precluded by underrepresentation of certain taxa and systems. Models predicting context‐dependent outcomes of biotic interactions have been tested using plants and bacteria, but their applicability to higher taxa is largely unknown. 2. We examined context dependency in a reproductive mutualism between two stream fish species: mound nest‐building bluehead chub Nocomis leptocephalus and mountain redbelly dace Chrosomus oreas, which often uses N. leptocephalus nests for spawning. We hypothesized that increased predator density and decreased substrate availability would increase the propensity of C. oreas to associate with N. leptocephalus and decrease reproductive success of both species. 3. In a large‐scale in situ experiment, we manipulated egg predator density and presence of both symbionts (biotic context), and replicated the experiment in habitats containing high‐ and low‐quality spawning substrate (abiotic context). 4. Contradictory to our first hypothesis, we observed that C. oreas did not spawn without its host. The interaction outcome switched from commensalistic to mutualistic with changing abiotic and biotic contexts, although the net outcome was mutualistic. 5. The results of this study yielded novel insight into how context dependency operates in vertebrate mutualisms. Although the dilution effect provided by C. oreas positively influenced reproductive success of N. leptocephalus, it was not enough to overcome both egg predation and poor spawning habitat quality. Outcomes of the interaction may be ultimately determined by associate density. Studies of context dependency in vertebrate systems require detailed knowledge of species life‐history traits. John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2016-01-25 /pmc/articles/PMC4761764/ /pubmed/26941947 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.1979 Text en © 2016 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Original Research
Peoples, Brandon K.
Frimpong, Emmanuel A.
Context‐dependent outcomes in a reproductive mutualism between two freshwater fish species
title Context‐dependent outcomes in a reproductive mutualism between two freshwater fish species
title_full Context‐dependent outcomes in a reproductive mutualism between two freshwater fish species
title_fullStr Context‐dependent outcomes in a reproductive mutualism between two freshwater fish species
title_full_unstemmed Context‐dependent outcomes in a reproductive mutualism between two freshwater fish species
title_short Context‐dependent outcomes in a reproductive mutualism between two freshwater fish species
title_sort context‐dependent outcomes in a reproductive mutualism between two freshwater fish species
topic Original Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4761764/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26941947
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.1979
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