Mutualism (biology)

Definition

Mutualism describes the ecological interaction between two or more species where each species has a net benefit. Mutualism is a common type of ecological interaction. Prominent examples are:the nutrient exchange between vascular plants and mycorrhizal fungi, the fertilization of flowering plants by pollinators, the ways plants use fruits and edible seeds to encourage animal aid in seed dispersal, and the way corals become photosynthetic with the help of the microorganism zooxanthellae.

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Holling Camouflage Canalisation (genetics)Canidae Carbohydrates Carnivore Carrying capacity Cascade effect (ecology)Cat gap Catagenesis (biology)Catastrophism Cell migration Cell nucleus Cercopithecus ascanius Cercopithecus mitis Cereal Chaetodontidae Charles Darwin Cheating (biology)Chemoorganoheterotrophy Chemoorganotroph Chemosynthesis Chemotroph Chromosome Cladistics Cladogenesis Cleaning Cleaning symbiosis Climax community Cline (biology)Clown fish Clustering of self-propelled particles Co-adaptation Co-evolution Coded wire tag Coevolution Cold seep Collective animal behavior Collective intelligence Collective motion Coloration evidence for natural selection Colorectal cancer Commensal Commensalism Common descent Community (ecology)Companion planting Competition (biology)Competitive exclusion principle Conflated Connochaetes taurinus Consumer-resource model Consumer (food chain)Consumer–resource interactions Convergent evolution Cooperation Cooperation (evolution)Copiotroph Coral 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F-ratio (oceanography)Feed conversion ratio Feeding frenzy Fertilisation Fish migration Fisher's principle Fitness (biology)Flagship species Flock (birds)Flocking (behavior)Flower Food chain Food web Foraging Formic acid Foster's rule Foundation species Frugivore Functional ecology Functional response Fungi Fungus Gene-centered view of evolution Gene flow Generalist and specialist species Genetic assimilation Genetic drift Genetic variation Genus Gobiosoma Goby Greater honeyguide Green world hypothesis Greenwood Press (publisher)Group selection Group size measures Guild (ecology)Gut flora Gut microbiota Habitat Habitat fragmentation Hair Handicap principle Handling time Head lice Herbivore Herbivore adaptations to plant defense Herbivores Herd Herd behavior Heteractis magnifica Heterotroph Heterotrophic nutrition Hirtella History of evolutionary thought History of life History of molecular evolution History of paleontology History of wildlife tracking technology Hologenome theory of evolution Homing (biology)Homo sapiens Homology (biology)Honeydew (secretion)Host–parasite coevolution Human evolution Hummingbird hawkmoth Hybrid (biology)Hybrid speciation Hydrobiologia Hydrothermal vent Hyena Hyperparasite Ideal free distribution Immune Immune system Impala Inbreeding avoidance Inclusive fitness Index of evolutionary biology articles Industrial ecology Inquilinism Insect migration Insectivore Insular biogeography Intermediate disturbance hypothesis International Mycorrhiza Society Interspecies communication Interspecific competition Intertidal ecology Intraguild predation Intraspecific competition Introduced species Introduction to evolution Invasive species Inversion (evolutionary biology)Isocline Issatchenkia Issatchenkia orientalis Jane Mount Pleasant Journal of Theoretical Biology Kakamega Forest Kelp forest Kenya Keystone species Kin recognition Kin selection Kinetotroph Kleiber's law Kleptoparasitism Ladybug Lake ecosystem Lamarckism Land change modeling Landscape ecology Landscape epidemiology Landscape limnology Last universal common ancestor Latitudinal gradients in species diversity Leguminous Lepidoptera migration Lessepsian migration Liebig's law of the minimum Limiting similarity Lipid List of examples of convergent evolution List of feeding behaviours Lithoautotroph Lithotroph Locust Logistic function Lotka–Volterra equation Lotka–Volterra equations Macroecology Macroevolution Maize Malthusian growth model Marginal value theorem Marine food web Marine habitat Marine microorganisms Mate choice Mating type Maximum sustainable yield Mendelian inheritance Mesopredator Mesopredator release hypothesis Mesotrophic soil Metabolic theory of ecology Metabolism Metapopulation Microbes and Infection Microbial cooperation Microbial ecology Microbial food web Microbial intelligence Microbial loop Microbial mat Microbial metabolism Microbotics Microecosystem Microevolution Microorganism Mimicry Minimum viable population Missing heritability problem Mitochondria Mitochondrion Mixed-species foraging flock Mixotroph Mobbing (animal behavior)Models of DNA evolution Modern synthesis (20th century)Modularity (biology)Molecular Biology and Evolution Molecular evolution Monarch butterfly migration Monogamy in animals Mosaic evolution Mucous membrane Multicellular organism Mutation Mutationism Mutualism (disambiguation)Mutualisms and conservation Mycelium Myco-heterotrophy Mycoloop Mycorrhiza Mycorrhizal Mycotroph Myrmelachista schumanni Müllerian mimicry Nanorobotics Natal homing Natalie Angier National Academy of Sciences Native species Natural environment Natural selection Neanderthals Nectar Neo-Darwinism Neotropics Neutral theory of molecular evolution New Phytologist Niche apportionment models Niche construction Niche differentiation Nitrogenous Non-trophic networks Nonadaptive radiation Nonecological speciation North Pacific Gyre Nutrient cycle Obligate mutualism Occupancy–abundance relationship Ocellaris clownfish 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dispersal Selective breeding Self-propelled particles Semiaquatic Serengeti Sex-determination system Sex pheromone Sexecology Sexual dimorphism Sexual selection Sexual selection in flowering plants Sexual selection in fungi Shattering (agriculture)Sheep Shoaling and schooling Signalling theory Small population size Social selection Soil food web Sort sol Source–sink dynamics Spandrel (biology)Spatial ecology Spatial organization Speciation Species Species complex Species distribution Species distribution modelling Species diversity Species homogeneity Species richness Species–area relationship Springer Science+Business Media Stigmergy Storage effect Structuralism (biology)Sugar Swarm (simulation)Swarm behaviour Swarm intelligence Swarm robotics Swarming (honey bee)Swarming (military)Swarming motility Symbiogenesis Symbiosis Symbiotic Symbrion Symmetry breaking of escaping ants Sympatric speciation Synomone Syntrophy Systematics Systems ecology Tactical deception in animals Task 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