SULPHUR

Okay I am a pedant. Let's call it symbiotic mutualism

pz

Redundant. All mutualisms are symbiotic relationships.

Have you lost track of the point you are trying to make in all of this thumbing through the dictionary?

SULPHUR

I don't have one near me and I haven't used one unlike the others. If you have any ideas share them. when did you become involved in this friendly exchange of ideas. Please help

SULPHUR

I see you haven't been involved until now. Do you have the answer It seems I don't

pz

I've been following this all along.

The only way to help is to suggest that you give up on this obsession with fixing a particular word to a phenomenon. You are seriously derailing this thread, which began as a discussion of adaptation, into a rather peculiar and disjointed fixation on what "mutualism" means -- and you've had the definition clearly pointed out to you.

To make it simple, symbiosis is a more general term for a kind of interaction between species; mutualism is a specific kind of symbiosis in which both species benefit. If you look up commensalism and parasitism, you'll find other kinds of symbiosis in which the relationships are more one-sided.

Now, may we move on?

SULPHUR

Thanks for your help If you had told me earlier I would have butted out. I shall follow the discussion between you,peez and tara with interest and develop some understanding of mutualism.

thanks tom