Ecological interactions

摘要

The characteristics that regulate species interactions are largely inherited, so it seems logical to expect that closely related organisms are more likely to have similar ecological interactions than less related ones. Few studies have been done on this relationship, and those that have tend to focus on specialized organisms, such as parasites or insect herbivores. A new analysis of the evolution of host use in a diverse group of interactions comprising both specialist and generalist, acellular, unicellular and multicellular organisms, and including all types of interaction, finds support for the evolutionary conservation of ecological interactions across all species. The same rules seem to drive the evolution of most ecological interactions, and are strongly contributing to the organization of biodiversity on Earth.