No Cover Image

Journal article 243 views 94 downloads

Mutualism provides a basis for biodiversity in eco-evolutionary community assembly

Gui Araujo Orcid Logo, Miguel Lurgi Rivera Orcid Logo

PLOS Computational Biology, Volume: 21, Issue: 9, Start page: e1013402

Swansea University Author: Miguel Lurgi Rivera Orcid Logo

  • 70395.VoR.pdf

    PDF | Version of Record

    © 2025 Araujo, Lurgi. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.

    Download (4.13MB)

Check full text

DOI (Published version): 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1013402

Abstract

Unveiling the ecological and evolutionary mechanisms underpinning the assembly of stable and complex ecosystems is a main focus of community ecology. Ecological theory predicts the necessity of structural constraints on the network of species interactions to allow for growth and persistence of multi...

Full description

Published in: PLOS Computational Biology
ISSN: 1553-7358
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2025
Online Access: Check full text

URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa70395
first_indexed 2025-09-18T11:37:04Z
last_indexed 2025-10-29T07:18:21Z
id cronfa70395
recordtype SURis
fullrecord <?xml version="1.0"?><rfc1807><datestamp>2025-10-28T14:15:36.6746459</datestamp><bib-version>v2</bib-version><id>70395</id><entry>2025-09-18</entry><title>Mutualism provides a basis for biodiversity in eco-evolutionary community assembly</title><swanseaauthors><author><sid>947df89d116a1ab75515e421089e0443</sid><ORCID>0000-0001-9891-895X</ORCID><firstname>Miguel</firstname><surname>Lurgi Rivera</surname><name>Miguel Lurgi Rivera</name><active>true</active><ethesisStudent>false</ethesisStudent></author></swanseaauthors><date>2025-09-18</date><deptcode>BGPS</deptcode><abstract>Unveiling the ecological and evolutionary mechanisms underpinning the assembly of stable and complex ecosystems is a main focus of community ecology. Ecological theory predicts the necessity of structural constraints on the network of species interactions to allow for growth and persistence of multi-species communities. However, the mechanisms behind their emergence are not well understood. An understanding of how the coexistence of diverse species interaction types could influence the development of complexity and how a persistent composition of interactions could arise in nature is needed. Using an eco-evolutionary model, we investigate the assembly of complex species interaction networks with multiple interaction types and its consequences for ecosystem stability. Our results show that highly mutualistic communities promote complex and stable network configurations, thus resulting in a positive complexity-stability relationship. We show that evolution by speciation enhances the emergence of such conditions compared to a purely ecological assembly scenario of repeated invasions by migrating species. Furthermore, communities evolved in isolation promote a disproportionately higher complexity and a larger diversity of outcomes. Our results produce valuable theoretical insight into the mechanisms behind the emergence of ecological complexity and into the roles of mutualism and speciation in community formation.</abstract><type>Journal Article</type><journal>PLOS Computational Biology</journal><volume>21</volume><journalNumber>9</journalNumber><paginationStart>e1013402</paginationStart><paginationEnd/><publisher>Public Library of Science (PLoS)</publisher><placeOfPublication/><isbnPrint/><isbnElectronic/><issnPrint/><issnElectronic>1553-7358</issnElectronic><keywords/><publishedDay>2</publishedDay><publishedMonth>9</publishedMonth><publishedYear>2025</publishedYear><publishedDate>2025-09-02</publishedDate><doi>10.1371/journal.pcbi.1013402</doi><url/><notes/><college>COLLEGE NANME</college><department>Biosciences Geography and Physics School</department><CollegeCode>COLLEGE CODE</CollegeCode><DepartmentCode>BGPS</DepartmentCode><institution>Swansea University</institution><apcterm>SU Library paid the OA fee (TA Institutional Deal)</apcterm><funders>This work was supported by the Leverhulme Trust (Research Project Grant # RPG-2022-114 to ML).</funders><projectreference/><lastEdited>2025-10-28T14:15:36.6746459</lastEdited><Created>2025-09-18T12:34:29.8965418</Created><path><level id="1">Faculty of Science and Engineering</level><level id="2">School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences</level></path><authors><author><firstname>Gui</firstname><surname>Araujo</surname><orcid>0000-0001-8131-1553</orcid><order>1</order></author><author><firstname>Miguel</firstname><surname>Lurgi Rivera</surname><orcid>0000-0001-9891-895X</orcid><order>2</order></author></authors><documents><document><filename>70395__35127__374ca1b12042430f92750591f7d5acb3.pdf</filename><originalFilename>70395.VoR.pdf</originalFilename><uploaded>2025-09-18T12:38:22.0201096</uploaded><type>Output</type><contentLength>4325450</contentLength><contentType>application/pdf</contentType><version>Version of Record</version><cronfaStatus>true</cronfaStatus><documentNotes>&#xA9; 2025 Araujo, Lurgi. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.</documentNotes><copyrightCorrect>true</copyrightCorrect><language>eng</language><licence>https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</licence></document></documents><OutputDurs/></rfc1807>
spelling 2025-10-28T14:15:36.6746459 v2 70395 2025-09-18 Mutualism provides a basis for biodiversity in eco-evolutionary community assembly 947df89d116a1ab75515e421089e0443 0000-0001-9891-895X Miguel Lurgi Rivera Miguel Lurgi Rivera true false 2025-09-18 BGPS Unveiling the ecological and evolutionary mechanisms underpinning the assembly of stable and complex ecosystems is a main focus of community ecology. Ecological theory predicts the necessity of structural constraints on the network of species interactions to allow for growth and persistence of multi-species communities. However, the mechanisms behind their emergence are not well understood. An understanding of how the coexistence of diverse species interaction types could influence the development of complexity and how a persistent composition of interactions could arise in nature is needed. Using an eco-evolutionary model, we investigate the assembly of complex species interaction networks with multiple interaction types and its consequences for ecosystem stability. Our results show that highly mutualistic communities promote complex and stable network configurations, thus resulting in a positive complexity-stability relationship. We show that evolution by speciation enhances the emergence of such conditions compared to a purely ecological assembly scenario of repeated invasions by migrating species. Furthermore, communities evolved in isolation promote a disproportionately higher complexity and a larger diversity of outcomes. Our results produce valuable theoretical insight into the mechanisms behind the emergence of ecological complexity and into the roles of mutualism and speciation in community formation. Journal Article PLOS Computational Biology 21 9 e1013402 Public Library of Science (PLoS) 1553-7358 2 9 2025 2025-09-02 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1013402 COLLEGE NANME Biosciences Geography and Physics School COLLEGE CODE BGPS Swansea University SU Library paid the OA fee (TA Institutional Deal) This work was supported by the Leverhulme Trust (Research Project Grant # RPG-2022-114 to ML). 2025-10-28T14:15:36.6746459 2025-09-18T12:34:29.8965418 Faculty of Science and Engineering School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences Gui Araujo 0000-0001-8131-1553 1 Miguel Lurgi Rivera 0000-0001-9891-895X 2 70395__35127__374ca1b12042430f92750591f7d5acb3.pdf 70395.VoR.pdf 2025-09-18T12:38:22.0201096 Output 4325450 application/pdf Version of Record true © 2025 Araujo, Lurgi. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. true eng https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title Mutualism provides a basis for biodiversity in eco-evolutionary community assembly
spellingShingle Mutualism provides a basis for biodiversity in eco-evolutionary community assembly
Miguel Lurgi Rivera
title_short Mutualism provides a basis for biodiversity in eco-evolutionary community assembly
title_full Mutualism provides a basis for biodiversity in eco-evolutionary community assembly
title_fullStr Mutualism provides a basis for biodiversity in eco-evolutionary community assembly
title_full_unstemmed Mutualism provides a basis for biodiversity in eco-evolutionary community assembly
title_sort Mutualism provides a basis for biodiversity in eco-evolutionary community assembly
author_id_str_mv 947df89d116a1ab75515e421089e0443
author_id_fullname_str_mv 947df89d116a1ab75515e421089e0443_***_Miguel Lurgi Rivera
author Miguel Lurgi Rivera
author2 Gui Araujo
Miguel Lurgi Rivera
format Journal article
container_title PLOS Computational Biology
container_volume 21
container_issue 9
container_start_page e1013402
publishDate 2025
institution Swansea University
issn 1553-7358
doi_str_mv 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1013402
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
college_str Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchytype
hierarchy_top_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
department_str School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Science and Engineering{{{_:::_}}}School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences
document_store_str 1
active_str 0
description Unveiling the ecological and evolutionary mechanisms underpinning the assembly of stable and complex ecosystems is a main focus of community ecology. Ecological theory predicts the necessity of structural constraints on the network of species interactions to allow for growth and persistence of multi-species communities. However, the mechanisms behind their emergence are not well understood. An understanding of how the coexistence of diverse species interaction types could influence the development of complexity and how a persistent composition of interactions could arise in nature is needed. Using an eco-evolutionary model, we investigate the assembly of complex species interaction networks with multiple interaction types and its consequences for ecosystem stability. Our results show that highly mutualistic communities promote complex and stable network configurations, thus resulting in a positive complexity-stability relationship. We show that evolution by speciation enhances the emergence of such conditions compared to a purely ecological assembly scenario of repeated invasions by migrating species. Furthermore, communities evolved in isolation promote a disproportionately higher complexity and a larger diversity of outcomes. Our results produce valuable theoretical insight into the mechanisms behind the emergence of ecological complexity and into the roles of mutualism and speciation in community formation.
published_date 2025-09-02T05:30:45Z
_version_ 1851098027476910080
score 11.089386

Similar Items