Resource availability determines stability for mutualist–pathogen–host interactions

Abstract

Traditional explorations of interspecific interactions have generated extensive bodies of theory on mutualism and disease independently, but few studies have considered the interaction between them. We developed a model exploring the interactions among a fungal mutualist, a viral pathogen, and their shared plant host. Both microbes were assumed to alter the uptake and use of nutrients by the plant. We found that the productivity of the system and the strength of the plant–fungal mutualism influenced community dynamics. In particular, at low productivity, the pathogen may depend on the presence of the fungal mutualist for persistence. Furthermore, under some conditions, both the productivity of the system and the strength of the plant–fungal mutualism may simultaneously cause the mutualist to go extinct. We note the presence of cyclic plant–pathogen population dynamics only in the presence of the mutualist. As found in other models of consumer–resource interactions, cyclic dynamics were driven by high productivity, but, in contrast to simpler systems, high pathogen effectiveness did not consistently lead to cyclic dynamics. In total, association with mutualists can alter host–pathogen interactions, and the reverse is also true in that pathogens may alter host–mutualist interactions.