Abstract
All interactions between multiple species invading together (coinvasion)
must be accounted for to predict species coexistence patterns across
space. Mutualisms, particularly, are known to influence species’
population dynamics and their invasive ability (e.g. mycorrhizal fungi
with partner plants). Yet, while modelling coinvasion, their role in
mediating coexistence is overlooked. We build a spatial model of
coinvasion of two competing plant species with a shared fungal mutualist
to study how mutualism and competition shape the spatial coexistence of
competitors. We find that mutualist presence engenders regional
(spatial) coexistence between competitors even when local coexistence
between them is impossible. Further, increasing mutualist dispersal
results in sharp transitions in competitor coexistence outcomes.
Finally, differences in mutualist partner dependence and competitive
ability interact to produce a variety of local and regional coexistence
outcomes. Thus, incorporating mutualism dependence and dispersal
behaviour into coinvasion models offers new insights into spatial
coexistence and invasive species distributions.