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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
agricultural and biological sciences
The role of epiphytism in architecture and evolutionary constraint within mycorrhizal networks of tropical orchids
Molecular Ecology, Volume 21, No. 20, Year 2012
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Description
Characterizing the architecture of bipartite networks is increasingly used as a framework to study biotic interactions within their ecological context and to assess the extent to which evolutionary constraint shape them. Orchid mycorrhizal symbioses are particularly interesting as they are viewed as more beneficial for plants than for fungi, a situation expected to result in an asymmetry of biological constraint. This study addressed the architecture and phylogenetic constraint in these associations in tropical context. We identified a bipartite network including 73 orchid species and 95 taxonomic units of mycorrhizal fungi across the natural habitats of Reunion Island. Unlike some recent evidence for nestedness in mycorrhizal symbioses, we found a highly modular architecture that largely reflected an ecological barrier between epiphytic and terrestrial subnetworks. By testing for phylogenetic signal, the overall signal was stronger for both partners in the epiphytic subnetwork. Moreover, in the subnetwork of epiphytic angraecoid orchids, the signal in orchid phylogeny was stronger than the signal in fungal phylogeny. Epiphytic associations are therefore more conservative and may co-evolve more than terrestrial ones. We suggest that such tighter phylogenetic specialization may have been driven by stressful life conditions in the epiphytic niches. In addition to paralleling recent insights into mycorrhizal networks, this study furthermore provides support for epiphytism as a major factor affecting ecological assemblage and evolutionary constraint in tropical mycorrhizal symbioses. See also the Perspective by Leake and Cameron © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Authors & Co-Authors
Martos, Florent
France, Saint-denis
Université de la Réunion
France, Paris
Cnrs Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
South Africa, Durban
University of Kwazulu-natal
Munoz, François
France, Montpellier
Université de Montpellier
Pailler, Thierry
France, Saint-denis
Université de la Réunion
Kottke, Ingrid L.
Germany, Tubingen
Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen
Gonneau, Cédric
France, Saint-denis
Université de la Réunion
Selosse, Marc André
France, Paris
Cnrs Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Statistics
Citations: 160
Authors: 6
Affiliations: 5
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1111/j.1365-294X.2012.05692.x
ISSN:
09621083
e-ISSN:
1365294X