When both partners benefit from a relationship—be they husband and wife or pollinator and flower—the relationship is known as a mutualism. But sometimes partners do not deliver their side of the bargain while still reaping ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 20, 2017
0
34
One of the first questions scientists ask when a new disease appears is, "Where did this come from?"
Plants & Animals
May 21, 2020
0
13
High in the hills of northwestern Tunisia, farmers are tending thousands of fig trees with a unique system of terracing they hope will protect them from ever-harsher droughts.
Agriculture
Sep 18, 2022
0
73
In the middle of Chile's Atacama desert, the driest in the world, Hector Espindola has an unexpected job: he runs a vineyard.
Agriculture
May 24, 2022
0
3
The common fig is a subtropical, deciduous fruit tree grown in most Mediterranean-type climates. Although some believe that figs may be the oldest cultivated fruit species on earth, global expansion of fig crops has been ...
Ecology
Mar 17, 2011
0
0
Figs and the wasps that pollinate them present one of biologists' favorite examples of a beneficial relationship between two different species. In exchange for the pollination service provided by the wasp, the fig fruit provides ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 14, 2010
0
0
"Don't put all your eggs in one basket" is a common refrain. But usually it is not followed by the words "because your neighbours may kill you". However, this is precisely the scenario faced by some female Brazilian fig wasps ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 28, 2015
0
8
Published online in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters, the study confirms that placid male pollinator fig wasps work together to chew an escape tunnel for their females, before crawling back into the fig to die – ...
Plants & Animals
Dec 1, 2011
0
0
They may only be 1.5mm in size, but the tiny wasps that pollinate fig trees can travel over 160km in less than 48 hours, according to research from scientists at the University of Leeds. The fig wasps are transporting pollen ...
Plants & Animals
Nov 9, 2009
0
0
Tiny worms that live inside fig trees use the fig wasp as a 'vehicle' to hitch rides from one tree to another by crawling into the wasp's gut without harming it. This relationship has existed for millions of years. But how ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 15, 2021
0
10
