Cheating (biology) - Non-animal Examples

Non-animal Examples

The relationships between flowering plants and their animal pollinators and plants and fungi are generally mutualistic, but there are cheaters. Two species of yucca moths eat yucca seeds, but do not pollinate the yucca because they lack the necessary mouthparts. The animal pollinators are not the only cheaters though. Some flowers do not produce nectar. Many pollinators are not able to distinguish between which flowers produce nectar and which do not; therefore, some flowers cheat by not making nectar for the pollinator. Examples of nectarless plants include some species of orchids. Orchids are not just cheaters towards pollinators. Some orchids cheat by not providing fixed carbon to mutualistic fungi.