The nature of interspecific interactions and co‐diversification patterns, as illustrated by the fig microcosm

What is it about?

Species interactions can be mutually beneficial (mutualism), mutually detrimental (competition), or beneficial to one partner but detrimental to the other (predation, herbivory, parasitism). This paper considers the consequences of these interactions for the evolutionary histories of figs and two groups of competing wasps, one of mutualistic fig pollinators and the other of fig parasites. These histories differ among interaction types, with prevalent cospeciation by mutualists, association loss by competitors, and host switching by parasites. The association for mutualists is the clearest for fig species lacking parasitic wasps.

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