Editing Asimina (section)

== Ecology ==
The common pawpaw is native to shady, rich bottom lands, where it often forms a dense undergrowth in the forest, often appearing as a patch or thicket of individual, small, slender trees.

Pawpaw flowers are insect-[[pollination|pollinated]], but fruit production is limited since few if any [[pollinator]]s are attracted to the flower's faint, or sometimes nonexistent scent. The flowers produce an odor similar to that of [[decomposition|rotting]] [[meat]] to attract [[Calliphoridae|blowflies]] or [[carrion beetle]]s for cross pollination.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.boiseweekly.com/boise/in-awe-of-the-pawpaw/Content?oid=2531240 |title=In Awe of the Pawpaw |author=Guy Hand |date=October 12, 2011 |publisher=Boise Weekly |access-date=3 July 2012 |archive-date=18 June 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120618141557/http://www.boiseweekly.com/boise/in-awe-of-the-pawpaw/Content?oid=2531240 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Other insects that are attracted to pawpaw plants include scavenging [[Tephritidae|fruit flies]], [[Calliphoridae|carrion flies]] and [[beetle]]s. Because of difficult pollination, some{{who|date=November 2010}} believe the flowers are self-incompatible.

Pawpaw fruit may be eaten by [[fox]]es, [[opossum]]s, [[squirrel]]s, and [[raccoon]]s. Pawpaw leaves and twigs are seldom consumed by [[rabbit]]s or [[deer]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/pawpaw.html|title=PAWPAW Fruit Facts|access-date=2010-10-18|archive-date=2011-07-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720235418/http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/pawpaw.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The leaves, twigs, and bark of the common pawpaw tree contain natural [[insecticide]]s known as [[acetogenin]]s.<ref name="Sampson">{{cite journal |last1=Sampson |first1=Blair J. |last2=McLaughlin |first2=Jerry L. |last3=Wedge |first3=David E. |title=Paw paw extract as a botanical insecticide, 2002 |journal=Arthropod Management Tests |date=1 January 2003 |volume=28 |issue=1 |page=L5 |doi=10.1093/amt/28.1.L5 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

Larvae of the [[zebra swallowtail butterfly]] feed exclusively on young leaves of the various pawpaw species, but never occur in great numbers on the plants.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/pawpaw.html| title = California Rare Fruit Growers, Inc. 1996,1999, "Pawpaw: ''Asimina triloba'', Annonaceae"| access-date = 2010-10-18| archive-date = 2011-07-20| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110720235418/http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/pawpaw.html| url-status = dead}}</ref>

The pawpaw is considered an evolutionary anachronism, where a now-extinct evolutionary partner, such as a Pleistocene megafauna species, formerly consumed the fruit and assisted in seed dispersal.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Boone |first1=Madison J. |last2=Davis |first2=Charli N. |last3=Klasek |first3=Laura |last4=del Sol |first4=Jillian F. |last5=Roehm |first5=Katherine |last6=Moran |first6=Matthew D. |title=A Test of Potential Pleistocene Mammal Seed Dispersal in Anachronistic Fruits using Extant Ecological and Physiological Analogs |journal=Southeastern Naturalist |date=January 2015 |volume=14 |issue=1 |pages=22–32 |doi=10.1656/058.014.0109 |s2cid=86809830 }}</ref>