An Evolutionary Perspective on Plant-Animal Interactions

In this introductory chapter we present a general view of plant-animal interactions. We discuss the origins of these interactions and how they evolved to shape the amazing biodiversity of life that surrounds us, a main goal of evolutionary biology. Biotic interactions are dynamic and their outcomes vary in space and time in a wide spectrum from positive to neutral to negative. Our main goal is to present plant-animal interactions as evolutionarily complex systems that shape the ecological networks that maintain viable natural communities. This introductory chapter will prepare the reader to better understand the more detailed information about plant-animal interactions that will be presented in subsequent chapters of this book.