Biological Mutualism: A Scientific Survey.

The role of close inter-species relationships has become clearer in contemporary biology than ever before, not least the importance of mutually beneficial interactions (mutualism). This paper surveys this area of science, presenting it for a non-specialist readership, as part of a journal edition assembling theological engagements with biological mutualism, as a provocation to interdisciplinary research between the natural sciences and the arts and humanities, is a description of the extent and significance of mutualism in relation to ecology, evolution, and human health, along with a discussion of the history of writing on the theme, and a glossary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]