Abstract
Kiers et al. (1) make three main points. First, they noted that many mutualisms involve multiple symbionts interacting with a single host. We agree, and we explained that partner fidelity feedback (PFF) can function because plants generally “limit, withdraw, or even abscise investment in shoots, flowers, and roots (or subsets of any of these) after physical damage or deficits of… resources…” (2). This “modularity” of plant hosts (3) separates the effects of different symbionts and allows the host to react to individual symbionts. Modularity is easily incorporated into our model, because (with no change in our results) principal-agent theory allows the assumption of one agent per host to be replaced …
Highlights
Kiers et al (1) make three main points
To the extent that cheater moths individually cause enough damage, cheaters are reliably exposed to host response, but noncheaters escape floral abortion when they do not oviposit alongside cheaters (4)
Kiers et al (1) state that host response is only “an efficient way of distributing resources to partners differing in net mutualistic benefit, with effects on symbiont fitness as. . . side effects.”
Summary
Kiers et al (1) make three main points. First, they noted that many mutualisms involve multiple symbionts interacting with a single host. The problem to which we alluded is when hosts cannot react differently, such as when mixtures of symbionts occur within modules. Kiers et al (1) mention the example of multiple moths on yucca flowers.
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