superorganism

Examples

• All

• Hutton spoke of the Earth as a "superorganism," and was one of the first scientists to conceive of the Earth in a systems context (Joseph 1990, 83).

  Academic text (1994)

• In the case of positive feedback, the plant and fungal combinations may be thought of as superorganisms, and the dynamics within the fungal community will not directly contribute to the maintenance of plant diversity at a local scale.

  Academic text (2001)

• Remember, let's be the best superorganism we can be!

  Fiction book (1998)

• Thus, in the extreme form of Gaia theory, the biosphere is a superorganism selected for its macroscopic properties in order to serve the biota.

  Academic text (2005)

• James Lovelock (1991) attributes to James Hutton, the "father of geology," the statement that "I consider the Earth to be a superorganism."

  Academic text (2005)

• He, in turn, was an intellectual ancestor of James Lovelock, who described the biosphere as a "diffuse superorganism" and called it Gaia after the Greek goddess of the Earth.

  Academic text (1995)

• The possibility remains, however, that mycorrhizal fungi enable the coexistence of plants if the realization of a plant's abiotic niche depends on the plant-fungus superorganism relationship.

  Academic text (2001)

• In nature, a beehive functions as a superorganism, with each bee playing a vital role in its survival.

• Scientists refer to coral reefs as superorganisms due to the collaborative interactions of the various species living within them.

Synonyms

C

colony

vssuperorganism

168 2.4

A group of the same living things, like ants or bacteria, living together

is more about parts acting together as one rather than mere cohabitation

O

organism

vssuperorganism

20 4.7

A system of parts that work together like a living body

is an actual biological group of animals cooperating as a single unit

Antonyms

I

individual

∞ 2.3

A single person or animal regarded separately from a group

How Unified

superorganism

• Specialized

1 7.6

community

• Specialized

38 2.8

colony

168 2.4

group

∞ 1.0

collection

93 1.9

Surface Forms

Morphology

Etymology