alleryStart learning →Ants tend Karner blue butterfly larvae, and those larvae secrete a carbohydrate rich food for the ants. What is this relationship?
APredation
BParasitism
CMutualism
DCompetition
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: C. Mutualism
1. Work out what each partner gets out of the arrangement.
2. The larvae survive better when ants tend them, so the larvae gain.
3. The ants receive a carbohydrate rich secretion, so the ants gain as well.
4. A long term coevolved relationship where both species benefit is mutualism.
5. In predation and parasitism only one partner gains, so neither name fits here.
_Source: OpenStax Biology 1e (CC BY 4.0), Chs 44 and 46, section 44.1 The Scope of Ecology_
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