Coevolutionary constraints? The environment alters tripartite interaction traits in a legume.

ABSTRACT: Third party species, which interact with one or both partners of a pairwise species interaction, can shift the ecological costs and the evolutionary trajectory of the focal interaction. Shared genes that mediate a host's interactions with multiple partners have the potential to generate evolutionary constraints, making multi-player interactions critical to our understanding of the evolution of key interaction traits. Using a field quantitative genetics approach, we studied phenotypic and genetic correlations among legume traits for rhizobium and herbivore interactions in two light environments. Shifts in plant biomass allocation mediated negative phenotypic correlations between symbiotic nodule number and herbivory in the field, whereas positive genetic covariances suggested shared genetic

SUBMITTER: Heath KD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3408487 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature