Multispecies individuals

History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences
Pierrick Bourrat, Paul E Griffiths

Abstract

We assess the arguments for recognising functionally integrated multispecies consortia as genuine biological individuals, including cases of so-called 'holobionts'. We provide two examples in which the same core biochemical processes that sustain life are distributed across a consortium of individuals of different species. Although the same chemistry features in both examples, proponents of the holobiont as unit of evolution would recognize one of the two cases as a multispecies individual whilst they would consider the other as a compelling case of ecological dependence between separate individuals. Some widely used arguments in support of the 'holobiont' concept apply equally to both cases, suggesting that those arguments have misidentified what is at stake when seeking to identify a new level of biological individuality. One important aspect of biological individuality is evolutionary individuality. In line with other work on the evolution of individuality, we show that our cases can be distinguished by focusing on the fitness alignment between the partners of the consortia. We conclude that much of the evidence currently presented for the ubiquity and importance of multi-species individuals is simply not to the point, at le...Continue Reading

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Citations

Feb 28, 2020·History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences·Javier Suárez
Jul 21, 2020·Evolutionary Applications·Bernard AngersChristelle Leung
Sep 26, 2020·Microbial Ecology·Liza OuarabiAnca Lucau-Danila
Oct 30, 2018·BioEssays : News and Reviews in Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology·Pierrick Bourrat
Mar 21, 2020·Frontiers in Psychology·Javier Suárez, Vanessa Triviño
May 15, 2020·Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society·Javier Suárez, Adrian Stencel
Aug 17, 2020·Microbiome·Isobel RonaiOryan Zacks
May 9, 2019·Theory in Biosciences = Theorie in Den Biowissenschaften·Pierrick Bourrat
Nov 10, 2020·BioEssays : News and Reviews in Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology·Eric Bapteste, François Papale
Mar 11, 2021·Periodontology 2000·Heidi Goodrich-Blair
Sep 15, 2020·Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation : Journal of the American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation·H Joachim Deeg

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