Episode 59

The first in a new series of episodes in which I talk with Jim Penny of the Oxford University Botanic Gardens about extraordinary instances of symbiosis and inter-species mutualism in the natural world. We begin by talking about the pollination of figs by wasps and the regulation of this by a parasitic nematode, a thought-provoking three-way interdependence.

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Some relevant links:

• Oxford University Botanic Garden
• Ficus genus (figs)
• Ficus_carica species (edible figs)
• syconium
• solitary wasps
• fig wasp
• nematode
• mutualism
• symbiosis
• "What are figs and fig wasps?" (quick guide)
• Jim's wonderful Hexagonia blog