I am interested in unraveling the mechanistic explanation of how different types of species, in general, can co-exist in the same community and under which conditions such co-existence could be achieved.
For example, In 2014, Heath and Stinchcombe mentioned the persistence of variability in symbiont quality as a paradox, yet we can see beneficial (mutualist) and non-beneficial (non-mutualist) symbionts co-exist in the same host plant's root. The arguments are - if the host could not discriminate between both symbionts, the non-mutualist will win over the mutualist (i.e. having a greater fitness) without paying any cost. On the contrary, if the host selectively chooses the benefic symbiont, then the mutualist should outcompete the non-mutualist. In either case, co-existence is not possible, though we commonly find them together. In our Am. Nat. 2022 paper, we showed because of the trade-off between two factors (preferential allocation of benefits to mutualists and resource competition between two symbionts), stable co-existence is possible over a range of fidelity of plant's allocation to mutualists.
For example, In 2014, Heath and Stinchcombe mentioned the persistence of variability in symbiont quality as a paradox, yet we can see beneficial (mutualist) and non-beneficial (non-mutualist) symbionts co-exist in the same host plant's root. The arguments are - if the host could not discriminate between both symbionts, the non-mutualist will win over the mutualist (i.e. having a greater fitness) without paying any cost. On the contrary, if the host selectively chooses the benefic symbiont, then the mutualist should outcompete the non-mutualist. In either case, co-existence is not possible, though we commonly find them together. In our Am. Nat. 2022 paper, we showed because of the trade-off between two factors (preferential allocation of benefits to mutualists and resource competition between two symbionts), stable co-existence is possible over a range of fidelity of plant's allocation to mutualists.
