Question

Leaf cutter ants keep fungal gardens. The ants provide food for the fungus but also feed on the fungus. This is an example of
A. competition
B. predation
C. parasitism
D. mutualism

Answer 1

Hint: In order to answer such questions you have a brief knowledge about food chains and food webs. You should know about various inter and intra-specific interactions between species, how such interactions affect both of the interacting species.

Complete step by step solution:
More broadly, competition can be described as the direct or indirect contact of organisms that results in a change in fitness when the organisms share a resource. Competition is most commonly thought of as the interaction of individuals that compete for a common resource that is in limited supply. A relationship between organisms known as competition is harmful to both of them. When two organisms compete for the same natural resource, such as food or land, this might occur. The struggle between creatures to find a mate is a typical example. Additionally, there is interspecies rivalry between organisms of different species for resources. For instance, in ocean ecosystems, sharks, dolphins, and seabirds frequently consume the same species of fish. Direct and indirect competition both exist.
One organism kills and eats another during predation. To the detriment of the organism being consumed, the prey, predation supplies energy to prolong life and encourage reproduction of the organism doing the killing, the predator. Organisms are affected by predation on two ecological scales. Predation is the process by which one creature, the predator, captures and kills another, the prey, in order to survive. It could be simple to picture predators like lions, bears, or sharks.
A nonmutual connection in which one organism profits at the expense of the other is known as parasitism. Ectoparasites (which reside on the surface of the host) and endoparasites are the two forms of parasites that harm living things (living in the body of the host). When one creature, the parasite, feeds on another, the host, hurting or even killing the host, the connection is said to be parasitic. The parasite resides within or on the host's body.
Mutualism is described as a relationship between members of different species that has a positive (good) impact on the survival and/or per capita reproduction of the interacting populations. One illustration is the collaboration between leguminous plants and microbes that fix nitrogen. Additionally, cows have rumen bacteria, which are intestinal microbes that aid in the digestion of the plants the cow eats. Certain fungus and tree roots frequently form mutualistic relationships (see mycorrhiza). The leaf-cutter ant's fungus gardens resemble an edible external digestive system in certain aspects. These illustrations show that ants have developed strategies to maintain the mutualism between fungus and ants over thousands of years.

Note:
Competition between individuals of various species is called interspecific. Individuals of the same species compete with one another within their own species. While inter- means between, the prefix intra- means within. If you separate the two phrases, "intraspecific" simply refers to a species within a species, and "interspecific" refers to between species.