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Symbiosis - Dictionary Definition and Overview |
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Symbiosis : (noun)
1: the relation between two different species of organisms that
are interdependent; each gains benefits from the other
[syn: mutualism]
Based on WordNet 2.0
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Symbiosis : \Sym`bi*o"sis\, n. [NL., fr. Gr. ? a living together,
? to live together; ? with _ ? to live.] (Biol.)
The living together in more or less imitative association or
even close union of two dissimilar organisms. In a broad
sense the term includes parasitism, or
antagonistic, or antipathetic, symbiosis, in which the
association is disadvantageous or destructive to one of
the organisms, but ordinarily it is used of cases where
the association is advantageous, or often necessary, to
one or both, and not harmful to either. When there is
bodily union (in extreme cases so close that the two form
practically a single body, as in the union of alg[ae] and
fungi to form lichens, and in the inclusion of alg[ae] in
radiolarians) it is called
conjunctive symbiosis; if there is no actual union of the
organisms (as in the association of ants with
myrmecophytes),
disjunctive symbiosis.
Based on WordNet (r) 2.0 (August 2003)
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