holobiont

plural holobionts

1. biologyA host organism plus its associated microorganisms

   Holobionts are the lichens of this world, the more-than-the-sums of parts.

   2020, Merlin Sheldrake, Entangled Life, page 103

   2 more examples

   The variables we considered include solar irradiance and turbidity, which are relevant to the symbiont photosynthesis and yearly minimum temperature, representing potential limiting factors for the holobiont.

   2015 August 13, Christiane Schmidt et al., “Recent Invasion of the Symbiont-Bearing Foraminifera Pararotalia into the Eastern Mediterranean Facilitated by the Ongoing Warming Trend”, in PLoS ONE, volume 10, →DOI

   Some say we should be seen as a holobiont, a term that reflects the intimate, co-dependent relationship humans have with microbes.

   2018, Nicola Davis, The Guardian, 256 March