NEET Biology question
A female fig wasp enters the syconium of a fig, pollinates the flowers and lays eggs in the ovaries of some of the flowers. The young larvae grow up, eat (and kill) some, but not all, of the seeds and complete their life cycle. The fig is completely dependent on fig wasps to pollinate its flowers, and the fig wasp requires figs to complete its life cycle. The interaction between figs and fig wasps has aspects of: I. mutualism II. host-parasite interaction III. competition IV. amensalism V. protocooperation. Select the correct option.
Solution
The fig-fig wasp relationship is mutualistic overall because each species depends entirely on the other to complete its life cycle (the wasp needs the fig for egg-laying and larval development, and the fig needs the wasp for pollination), but it also carries
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