parasymbiosisn.
/ˌparəsɪmbʌɪˈəʊsɪs/, /ˌparəsɪmbɪˈəʊsɪs/, U.S. /ˈˌpɛrəˌsɪmbaɪˈoʊsəs/, /ˈˌpɛrəˌsɪmbiˈoʊsəs/ Biology.
Originally: a relationship in which a lichen supports another lichen or fungal species growing in close association with it, without apparent disadvantage. Later more widely: a commensal or other association short of full mutualistic symbiosis.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > balance of nature > relationships of organisms > [noun] > symbiosis or mutualism
commensalism1870
mutualism1874
mutuality1876
symbiosis1882
messmatism1886
individualism1897
individuation1897
parasymbiosis1897
metabiosis1899
helotism1900
symbiotism1902
specificity1924
1897 Jrnl. Royal Microsc. Soc. 228 Prof. W. Zopf finds fresh confirmation of his theory that many of the fungi which grow on lichens are not true parasites, but have a kind of symbiotic relationship to the host, which he terms parasymbiosis, the hyphæ of the ‘parasite’ enveloping the algal constituent of the lichen, without inflicting any injury upon it.
1921 A. L. Smith Lichens vi. 264 Zopf found several instances of such parasymbiosis in his study of fungal parasites.
1986 Ann. Rev. Ecol. & Systematics 17 252 The..discovery that nitrogen-fixing bacteria inhabit the rhizosphere of some tropical grasses gave rise to hopes that this parasymbiosis might prove agronomically useful.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1897