Can "symbiosis" refer to the relationship between more than two entities?

[Vark]

As per the subject line, can the word "symbiosis" be used to refer to the relationship between more than two entities? Can three (or more) entities have a "symbiotic" relationship?

[dismalist]

As per the subject line, can the word "symbiosis" be used to refer to the relationship between more than two entities? Can three (or more) entities have a "symbiotic" relationship?

Yes. Here are some examples from ecology.

https://projects.ncsu.edu/cals/course/ent525/close/symbiosis.html

[They give "competition" an undeservedly bad name, though! :-)]

[Parasaurolophus]

A priori, I'd say sure--in particular, it seems fine as long as you extend the term to a restricted set of players (e.g., three). But the less restricted its application, the less informative the term is. Eventually, for example, you'll have described an entire ecology as symbiotic, or the practice of farming, and that seems uninformative. So my armchair intuition is that the paradigm cases of symbiosis all involve two players, but you might occasionally find a triad out there.

But, you know. Biology and ecology aren't my things.

[mamselle]

Where's FishProf when you need him?

M.