Advances in higher-order interactions between organisms

doi:10.17520/biods.2020217

Abstract

Abstract:

It is well known that interactions between organisms are the key to species coexistence and biodiversity maintenance. Traditional studies focused overwhelmingly on direct interactions between species pairs, ignoring the more complex indirect interactions. In this review, we first distinguished two types of indirect interactions, i.e. interaction chains and higher-order interactions (HOIs). Then we reviewed the definition of higher-order interactions including the hard-HOIs and soft-HOIs, and the studies of HOIs among multiple trophic levels and within a single trophic level. In the food-web literature (among multiple trophic levels), ecologists widely studied the properties, mechanisms, pathways and experimental evidence of HOIs. Recently, there is an increasing interest in HOIs within a single trophic level. Therefore, we further introduced the significance and quantification of individual-level HOIs within a single trophic level. Not only can individual-level HOIs reconcile the hard-HOIs and soft-HOIs, but also allow us to consider variatons between individuals (e.g. individual size and spatial distribution). Finally, we proposed some promising research directions of HOIs including but not limited to: testing the prevalence and relative importance of HOIs in natural communities, exploring the mechanisms of HOIs and integrating HOIs to existing theories of community ecology. Inclusion of HOIs will help us understand the mechanisms of species coexistence and biodiversity maintenance profoundly and comprehensively, enrich and refine the theoretical framework of community ecology, and lay the foundation for biodiversity conservation and management of ecosystems in the Anthropocene.

Key words: density-mediated indirect interactions, trait-mediated indirect interactions, interaction modifications, individual-level higher-order interactions, nonlinear density dependence, trophic levels, ecological network

Yuanzhi Li, Junli Xiao, Hanlun Liu, Youshi Wang, Chengjin Chu. Advances in higher-order interactions between organisms[J]. Biodiv Sci, 2020, 28(11): 1333-1344.

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URL: https://www.biodiversity-science.net/EN/10.17520/biods.2020217

https://www.biodiversity-science.net/EN/Y2020/V28/I11/1333

Figures/Tables 4

Fig. 1 The ecological network including direct (arrows 1-3) and indirect interactions (arrows 4-5) between species. Arrow 4 indicates that species k may indirectly affect species i by modifying the per capita effect of species j on species i (higher-order interactions, HOIs). Arrow 5 indicates that species k may indirectly affect species i by changing population density of species j (interaction chains). Therefore, species k may have both direct (arrow 1) and indirect (arrows 4-5) effects on species i. For simplicity, we only display direct and indirect effects of species j and k on species i.

Fig. 2 The types of biotic interactions. The different terms in the same box were used to describe the same type of interaction in different studies. The part in dashed line is our own opinion.

Table 1 The methods of detecting whether a species interaction model contains hard higher-order interactions (hard-HOIs) and the outcomes of some well known models. √ and × indicate the model contains (the equation in a method is violated) and does not contain (the equation in a mothed is satisfied) hard-HOIs, respectively. Methods (1), (3) and (5) are used in the case of HOIs defined in systems of two or more species, and methods (2) and (4) are special cases of (1) and (3) where HOIs are strictedly defined in systems of three or more species. Fi indicates the per capita growth rate of species i as a function the densities of itself and its competitiors. If the partial derivative of Fi to Nj (?Fi/?Nj) can be expressed as only a function of Nj: Gij(Nj) (method 1), or a function of Ni and Nj: Gij(Ni, Nj) (method 2), or function of Nj and Fi: Gij(Fi, Nj) (method 3), or a function of Ni, Nj and Fi: Gij(Fi, Ni, Nj) (method 4), then the model Fi does not contain hard-HOIs according to methods 1-4, respectively. In method (5), Qi indicates the set of paramters in function Fi; jij indicates the set of parameters in function Fi(0, …, Nj, …, 0) when densities of all species are zero except species j; Fi is the union of jij (j = 1, …, S). If Qi = Fi, then the model Fi does not contain hard-HOIs.

Fig. 3 Direct (straight arrows) and higher-order interactions (curve arrows) of neighbouring trees on a focal tree. The parameter $\alpha_{i_{m}j_{p}}$ quantifies the direct effect of a neighbour (individual p of species j) on the focal tree (individual m of species i). The direct interaction occurs only when a neighbour (jp) is located within a maximum radius (R) of im (solid straight arrows). The parameter $\beta_{i_{m}j_{p},k_{q}}$ quantifies the higher-order effect of a neighbour (individual q of species k) on the focal tree through another neighbour (individual p of species j). Higher-order interaction occurs only jp is located within the maximum radius (R) of im and kq is located within the maximum radius (R) of jp (solid curve arrows). Dashed arrows indicate direct interactions and higher-order interactions that are not considered when a neighbour is located outside the maximum radius (R) of the focal tree or its neighbour(s).

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