Would you consider this to be an example of what you're looking for: How about a parasite that needs an intermediate host before infecting its main host. Perhaps a worm that must live in a snail which must be eaten by a vertebrate before the parasite can enter the vertebrate to reach its adult form.
Martin M. Meiss 2013/9/5 Aabir Banerji <[email protected]> > Dear fellow ECOLOG users, > > The relationship between functional diversity and taxonomic diversity in > ecological communities isn't always linear. I imagine the simplest case of > non-linearity is where there is a lot of functional redundancy among > phylogenetically diverse taxa. The opposite extreme (a depauperate > community having a lot of functional diversity) is also possible... e.g., > where generalist populations exhibit complex demographic structures or > inducible polymorphisms. > > What I'd like to know, though, is if there is evidence of taxa fulfilling > functions by associating with one another. It's one thing for a species to > enter a new niche by relying on the product or ability of a different > species (such as a beneficial symbiont). It's another for different > species to combine complementary products or abilities to create/achieve > something that no one species in the community is able to produce or > achieve by itself (an "emergent" function). This latter phenomenon would > be something akin to neighborhood habitat amelioration... or, perhaps, > something more general that includes neighborhood habitat amelioration. > > Would any of you happen to know of recent reviews or articles that address > this topic? Or some really good examples of it, perhaps? > > Thanks in advance! > > ~ Aabir > > > Dr. Aabir Banerji > Postdoctoral Associate > Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies > University of Zurich > [email protected] >
