Mary Beth Saffo, Arizona State University West, Phoenix, Arizona, USA
Published online: April 2001
DOI: 10.1038/npg.els.0003281
Mutualistic symbioses are symbioses that are beneficial to both (or all) symbiotic partners; they are intricate, complex and variable in their interactions. Widely distributed both geographically and taxonomically, they play an important ecological and evolutionary role in the biosphere.
Keywords: symbiosis; mutualism; parasite; lichens; legumes; symbiont; host; endosymbiont; bioluminescence; mycorrhizae; endophytes
| Further Reading | |
| book Allen ON and Allen EK (1981) The Leguminosae: A Source Book of Characteristics, Uses and Nodulation. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. | |
| book Douglas AE (1994) Symbiotic Interactions. Oxford: Oxford University Press. | |
| McFall-Ngai MJ (1999) Consequences of evolving with bacterial symbionts: insights from the squid-Vibrio associations. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 30: 235–256. | |
| Malloch DW, Pirozynski KA and Raven PH (1980) Ecological and evolutionary significance of mycorrhizal symbioses in vascular plants (a review). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 77: 2113–2118. | |
| book Margulis L (1993) Symbiosis in Cell Evolution, 2nd edn. San Francisco: WH Freeman. | |
| book Margulis L and Fester R (eds) (1991) Symbiosis as a Source of Evolutionary Innovation. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. | |
| book Saffo MB (1991) "Symbiosis in evolution". In: Dudley EC (ed.) The Unity of Evolutionary Biology, pp. 674–680. Portland, OR: Dioscorides Press. | |
| Saffo MB (1992) Invertebrates in endosymbiotic associations. American Zoologist 32: 557–565. | |
| Saffo MB (1993) Coming to terms with a field: words and concepts in symbiosis. Symbiosis 14: 17–31. | |
| Saikkonen K, Faeth SH, Helander M and Sullivan TJ (1998) Fungal endophytes: a continuum of interactions with host plants. Annual Review of Ecology Systems 29: 319–343. | |
| book Shirley RL (1986) Nitrogen and Energy Nutrition of Ruminants. New York: Academic Press. | |
| book Smith DC and Douglas AE (1987) The Biology of Symbiosis. London: Edward Arnold. | |
| Socolow RH (1999) Nitrogen management and the future of food: lessons from the management of energy and carbon. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 96: 6001–6008. | |
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