The Symbiotic Relationship Between Sycamore And Elephants

Sycamore trees are vital to many animals due to the variety of animals it attracts and the relationships that occur from the interactions in the ecosystem. One could say that sycamore trees play a unique and crucial role in the way an ecosystem functions; moreover, without keystone species, the ecosystem would be dramatically different or cease to exist altogether. The sycamore provides fruit that allows insects and animals to feed on; however, without the fig wasps, the fruit would never ripen and become the nutritious produce it is meant to be. The fig wasp and the fig have a mutualistic relationship due to the figs allowing the wasps a place to lay eggs and give a layer of protection from predators; however, figs benefit from the wasps pollenating …show more content…
The sycamore fig tree provides 1 ton of fruit every time it grows new fruit and fruit bats end up eating half their body weight in figs while elephants still eat many they do not rely totally on the fig as a food sources. Furthermore, the elephants and fruit bats help fig trees by carrying figs back to their own habitat and on the journey home seeds will be dispersed by fruit bats after digestion or elephants could trample upon figs releasing the seeds inside. To protect itself from insects, the fig tree has adapted the ability to release a gooey latex onto its leaves to protect itself from predators like the katydid, longhorn beetle, and the pink mantis. The insects are the parasites that are trying to feed off of the sycamore tree, which is the host; moreover, this relationship can be labeled as parasitism. However, the most harmful creatures are the nematoid and the parasitic wasps which feed on the fruit and infect it from the inside, but the tree tries to protect itself by filling the figs with a natural antiseptic fluid. The fig tree is a major provider for the grey hornbill in which it protects and provides the birds with a home and nutritious