Harnessing nutritional niches to explore fungus-animal symbioses

Harnessing nutritional niches to explore fungus-animal symbioses | Authorea try { document.documentElement.classList.add('js'); } catch (e) { } var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'G-8VDV14Y67G']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })(); Skip to main content Preprints Collections Wiley Open Research IET Open Research Ecological Society of Japan All Collections About About Authorea FAQs Contact Us Quick Search anywhere Search for preprint articles, keywords, etc. Search Search ADVANCED SEARCH SCROLL Ecology Letters This is a preprint and has not been peer reviewed. Data may be preliminary. 24 February 2025 V1 Latest version Share on Harnessing nutritional niches to explore fungus-animal symbioses Authors : Jonathan Shik 0000-0003-3309-7737 [email protected] , Audrey Dussutour , and Henrik De Fine Licht 0000-0003-3326-5729 Authors Info & Affiliations https://doi.org/10.22541/au.174041521.11658521/v1 Published Ecology Letters Version of record Peer review timeline 375 views 301 downloads Contents Abstract Supplementary Material Information & Authors Metrics & Citations View Options References Figures Tables Media Share Abstract Fungus-animal symbioses have evolved countless times across the tree of life. While the stability of these mutualistic or parasitic interkingdom interactions often depends on optimized nutrient exchange, we lack a framework to explore whether animal-derived nutrients are optimal for fungal symbionts. We propose that this conceptual gap has constrained studies of how fungus-animal symbioses achieve ecological success as well as predictions about whether they will remain evolutionarily stable over time. We use Nutritional Geometry (NG) to harness nutritional niche theory and identify the crucial fundamental and realized nutritional niche dimensions of fungi that mediate symbiotic stability. We hypothesize that the dimensions of fungal nutritional niches are governed by their symbiotic role (mutualist vs. pathogen), degree of animal host control over nutritional competition (monoculture vs. polyculture), and breadth of host associations (specialist vs. generalist). We then show how these NG predictions can be rigorously tested integrating cleverly designed NG experiments with recent technological advances. We propose that this general theory can provide powerful niche-based insights into phenomena ranging from coevolutionary arms races to the potential emergence of economically important pathogens. Supplementary Material File (shik et al_fullms_submitted_.pdf) Download 2.57 MB Information & Authors Information Version history V1 Version 1 24 February 2025 Peer review timeline Published Ecology Letters Version of Record 10 Jul 2025 Published Copyright This work is licensed under a Non Exclusive No Reuse License. Collection Ecology Letters Keywords coevolutionary arms race entomopathogen fungal ecology mutualism nutritional geometry nutritional niche parasitism Authors Affiliations Jonathan Shik 0000-0003-3309-7737 [email protected] Kobenhavns Universitet Det Natur- og Biovidenskabelige Fakultet View all articles by this author Audrey Dussutour Université Toulouse III-Paul Sabatier View all articles by this author Henrik De Fine Licht 0000-0003-3326-5729 University of Copenhagen View all articles by this author Metrics & Citations Metrics Article Usage 375 views 301 downloads .FvxKWukQNSOunydq8rnd { width: 100px; } Citations Download citation Jonathan Shik, Audrey Dussutour, Henrik De Fine Licht. Harnessing nutritional niches to explore fungus-animal symbioses. Authorea . 24 February 2025. DOI: https://doi.org/10.22541/au.174041521.11658521/v1 If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. 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