Published online by Cambridge University Press: 08 February 2021
Take any ecology textbook and look up the chapter on interactions between species, and you will find that ecologists distinguish among three outcomes: mutualism, commensalism and parasitism/predation. Mutualisms are mutually beneficial (+/+), commensalisms are beneficial for one partner and neutral for the other (+/0), and parasitism/predation is beneficial for one and detrimental for the other (+/−). Mutualisms are at the core of the world as we know it; the evolution of the eukaryotic cell warranted the mutualistic integration of cell organelles (mitochondria and chloroplasts) into prokaryotic cells, and the radiation of flowering plants as a nutritional basis for the animal food chain is dependent on soil microorganisms for the fixation of nitrogen and phosphate as well as on pollinators (Bronstein, 2015). Therefore, studying mutualism is an integral part of ecological research and one that connects directly to understanding the evolution of cooperation. (See Chapter 4 for a discussion of mutualisms at the cell and genomic levels.)
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.