More on mutualism and coevolution:

When we describe the organization of biological communities,
we often focus on competition and predation and
perhaps mention parasitism and a few instances of
mutualism like pollination. This creates the impression that
biological communities are mostly about antagonistic
relationships among species, with some other interactions
added on to the edges. That view fails completely to
capture one of the most fundamental facts of biology:
intimate coevolved interactions, often mutualistic, form
the base of all species-rich ecosystems. Without these
coevolved interactions, highly diverse ecosystems would
collapse immediately.

"Four Central Points About Coevolution"
John N. Thompson

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