What about the fungus + phototroph association that made colonization of dry land possible?
(e.g., http://www.duluth.umn.edu/~jetterso/Pages%20for%20Plant%20Diversity%20Web%20Site/documents/plantfungihistoryTREE.pdf) - Denise -- Denise Burchsted, PE, PhD Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental Studies mail: Mailstop 2001, Keene State College, Keene NH 03435-2001 office: (603) 358-2176, Putnam Science Center room 236 On 9/6/2013 6:05 AM, Aabir Banerji wrote: > Hi, Duncan. > > I do regard secondary phytochemicals as functional traits. Do you know if > phytochemicals can blend with each other or otherwise enhance each other's > potency to create an emergent defense cocktail? Something that would deter > consumers that would not be deterred by any of the individual components? > > ~ Aabir > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Duncan Thomas > To: Aabir Banerji > Cc: [email protected] > Sent: Fri, 06 Sep 2013 03:03:18 -0000 (UTC) > Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] "Emergent" functions contributing to the functional > diversity of a community? > > > > If you include plant secondary phytochemicals as functional > > traits, then the fitness of an individual can be increased by having neighbors > > that use different functional traits for their chemical defenses, reducing > the local > > density of taxon-specific pathogens. Unfortunately, I don’t know of any > > publications that have looked at functional traits this way for natural > systems > > or for inter-cropping. > Duncan Thomas > > > > On Thu, Sep 5, 2013 at 2:53 AM, Aabir Banerji <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > > 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]
