Beyond mutualism: the nature of domesticator-domesticate interactions

The literature on domestication commonly calls the association between human domesticators and their plant and animal domesticates mutualistic, yet this designation is rarely examined critically. Here, we assess its validity based on the long-accepted ecological definition of mutualism and current evidence for origins, subsequent evolution, and present features of domesticator-domesticate interactions. We argue that it is difficult to wholly align these associations with standard concepts of mutualism. Instead, domesticator-domesticate interactions vary across domestication pathways and have changed throughout domestication timelines, spanning antagonism to commensalism to mutualism. We argue that the later stages of domestication in some intensively domesticated species form exploitative rather than mutualistic interactions. Moving away from conceptualizing domestication as mutualistic raises new questions regarding its ecology and evolution.