Fig. 1.
From: Towards a Dynamic Interaction Network of Life to unify and expand the evolutionary theory
An example of co-construction, the case of holobionts. The left circle represents the set of traits associated with a host, the right circle represents the set of traits associated with its microbial communities; the intersected area represents traits that are produced jointly as a result of the interaction between hosts and microbes. When this area becomes large or when co-constructed traits are remarkable, they cannot be correctly explained under a simple model treating hosts and microbes in isolation. This scheme holds for different types of partners