symbiosis

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Animals & Nature

symbiosis

biology

Also known as: symbiont

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symbiosis

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Category: Animals & Nature

Key People:: Lynn Margulis

Related Topics:: lichen; interspecific association; endosymbiosis

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symbiosis, any of several living arrangements between members of two different species, including mutualism, commensalism, and parasitism. Both positive (beneficial) and negative (unfavourable to harmful) associations are therefore included, and the members are called symbionts.

Any association between two species populations that live together is symbiotic, whether the species benefit, harm, or have no effect on one another.