Legume and ant polygons for range size analysis and visualization

Mutualism improves organismal fitness, but strong dependence on another species can also limit a species' ability to thrive in a new range if its partner is absent. We assembled a large, global dataset on mutualistic traits and species ranges to investigate how multiple plant-animal and plant-microbe mutualisms affect the spread of legumes and ants to novel ranges. We found that generalized mutualisms increase the likelihood that a species establishes and thrives beyond its native range, whereas specialized mutualisms either do not affect or reduce non-native spread. This pattern held in both legumes and ants, indicating that specificity between mutualistic partners is a key determinant of ecological success in a new habitat. Our global analysis shows that mutualism plays an important, if often overlooked, role in plant and insect invasions.

互利共生（mutualism）可提升生物体的适合度，但若其共生伙伴缺失，对另一物种的强依赖也会限制该物种在新分布区的繁衍能力。我们构建了一套覆盖全球的大型互利共生性状与物种分布范围数据集，以探究多种动植物、植物-微生物互利共生关系如何影响豆科植物与蚂蚁向新分布区的扩散。研究发现，泛化互利共生可提升物种在原生分布区外成功定殖并繁衍的概率，而特化互利共生则对物种的非原生分布区扩散无显著影响，甚至会抑制该过程。这一规律在豆科植物与蚂蚁类群中均成立，表明互利共生伙伴间的特异性是物种在新生境中取得生态成功的关键决定因素。本次全球尺度分析表明，尽管互利共生常被忽视，但其在植物与昆虫入侵过程中发挥着重要作用。