ABSTRACT
We said in an earlier chapter (VII) that mating, family, and society should, in the case of animals, be regarded as superindividual wholes. Obviously, the fiction of a whole can be extended to cover other cases in the organic world, according to the purpose in hand. For example, the totality of plants found in a definite limited space may be described as a whole, for between the single individuals of the same and different species living alongside one another, the most various reciprocal relations exist; and these relations are not solely in the form of mutual competition, but may also involve exchange of material and hence be regarded as of mutual advantage (see Zimmermann). The botanist calls such communities of plants, in which one individual is dependent upon another and stands or falls with it, associations. It is a problem for plant sociology to investigate all the relationships occurring between plants. We are also able to take into consideration the animals which inhabit a certain locality, together with the plants; then again we may speak of wholes, for on the one hand animal life without plants would be impossible, and on the other hand, the plants are influenced in the most various ways by the presence of the animals. Wholes of this kind are called biocoenoses; according to the nature of the soil, climate, and other external factors, they are entirely different in their composition. A pond, a section of river, a mountain range, and so on, all possess their characteristic biocoenoses; the investigation of biocoenoses is called biocoenotics.
