The ecology of beneficial interactions between species

OPEN TO THE PUBLIC | Please join us for Science Workshop this week and hear Chris Moore, PhD, Assistant Professor of Biology at Colby College, discuss the ecology of beneficial interactions between species.

Beneficial interactions—where species increase each other's survival or reproductive rates—are found in all ecological communities and are often thought to be the common and important type of interaction in the world. Some examples include plants and pollinators, plants and seed dispersing animals, corals and the photosynthetic dinoflagellates that live in their tissues, cleaner fish or shrimp, and nitrogen-fixing bacteria that live in root nodules of legumes and other plants. Despite these interactions being widespread and important, however, they have not become a part of the main bodies of conceptual or mathematical theory of ecological populations and communities. In this workshop, I will discuss why these interactions are sidelined from scientific and social perspectives, as well as show some attempts I have made to further develop theory and give a prospectus for the future.