Fig Wasps are number 7 on The Most Extreme Gardeners. They pollinate the Fig tree's flowers, which provides food for all kinds of animals. The fig's flowers are completely enclosed within the fruit, so the female wasp has to force her way through a narrow opening, it's such a tight squeeze that she needs to shed her wings. Inside, she then looks for a place to lay her eggs, and in the process, she wipes the male pollen onto the fig's female reproductive organs. Without her careful pollination, there would be not fig tree, and spends much of her life inside the plant she pollinates. Her offspring hatch, grow, and even mate inside the fig. They only leave when males drill holes on the walls of the fruit, setting free the next generation of pollen-coated females to fly off in search of another tree.
- If following the countdown of extreme Gardeners, here is a link to the next contender, which has shaped the trees of a continent.