Question

Relationships between organisms may be beneficial or detrimental. Which of the following examples shows a relationship in which both organisms benefit?
A.
A female black widow spider Latrodectus mactans mates with a male spider; then, she consumes him.

B.
A tick attaches itself to the skin of a dog and takes a blood meal.

C.
A species of hyena known as the aardwolf consumes termites for nourishment.

D.
An African wasp Certolsolen arabicus pollinates a fig tree Ficus sycomorus as it eats the tree's nectar.

Answer 1

ANSWER: D. An African wasp Certolosen… (yeah i’m not typing all of that lol, you get the idea)

When it comes to relationships between organisms, I like to think of what each species gets out of the relationship:

With A, the female spider gets to make babies and get a meal, and I guess the male spider could benefit since it’s making babies, but it gets eaten, so I have to assume only the female spider benefits.

With B, a tick attaching itself to a dog is obviously parasitism; the tick benefits by getting blood, while the dog is at risk of getting diseases and other health issues. Since only the tick gets anything out of the relationship, that can’t be an answer either.

For C, the termite gets nothing out of being eaten, while the hyena gets nutrients, so only one species benefits from the relationship.

With D, the wasp benefits by eating the nectar, while the tree gets pollinated, so both organisms benefit.

(This message is pretty long, but I hope it helped )