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Multispecies individuals.

Pierrick Bourrat1,2,3, Paul E Griffiths4

  • 1Department of Philosophy, Macquarie University, North Ryde, NSW, 2109, Australia. p.bourrat@gmail.com.

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Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

This study questions the definition of biological individuals, specifically holobionts. It argues that current evidence for multi-species individuals is insufficient, emphasizing the need to distinguish biological from evolutionary individuality.

Keywords:
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Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary biology
  • Microbiology
  • Ecology

Background:

  • The concept of 'holobionts' proposes functionally integrated multispecies consortia as biological individuals.
  • Distinguishing true biological individuals from mere ecological dependence is a significant challenge in evolutionary biology.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To critically assess the criteria for recognizing functionally integrated multispecies consortia as biological individuals.
  • To differentiate between cases of true multispecies individuality and ecological dependence within consortia.
  • To re-evaluate the arguments supporting the holobiont concept as a unit of evolution.

Main Methods:

  • Comparative analysis of two distinct multispecies consortia with shared core biochemical processes.
  • Examination of arguments for biological individuality in light of these examples.
  • Application of concepts of evolutionary individuality, focusing on partner fitness alignment.

Main Results:

  • Identified flaws in widely used arguments for the holobiont concept, as they apply ambiguously to both examples.
  • Demonstrated that fitness alignment between consortium partners is a key differentiator for evolutionary individuality.
  • Highlighted that current evidence for widespread multispecies individuals may not be pertinent to evolutionary individuality.

Conclusions:

  • The current evidence for multispecies individuals is not convincing for establishing a new level of biological individuality.
  • The concept of evolutionary individuality, specifically partner fitness alignment, is crucial for defining multispecies individuals.
  • Future research must clearly separate the concepts of biological and evolutionary individuality to advance the study of holobionts.