scholarly journals Prey exclusion combined with simulated fire increases subsequent prey‐capture potential in the pale pitcher plant, Sarracenia alata

2020 ◽  
Vol 107 (11) ◽  
pp. 1606-1613
Author(s):  
Matthew J. Abbott ◽  
J. Stephen Brewer
Keyword(s):  
Prey Capture ◽  
Pitcher Plant ◽  
Simulated Fire

scholarly journals Bacteria facilitate prey retention by the pitcher plant Darlingtonia californica

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 20160577 ◽  
Author(s):  
David W. Armitage
Keyword(s):  
Bacterial Community ◽  
Physical Properties ◽  
Bacterial Communities ◽  
Prey Capture ◽  
Surface Tensions ◽  
Pitcher Plants ◽  
Pitcher Plant ◽  
Plant Microbe Interaction

Bacteria are hypothesized to provide a variety of beneficial functions to plants. Many carnivorous pitcher plants, for example, rely on bacteria for digestion of captured prey. This bacterial community may also be responsible for the low surface tensions commonly observed in pitcher plant digestive fluids, which might facilitate prey capture. I tested this hypothesis by comparing the physical properties of natural pitcher fluid from the pitcher plant Darlingtonia californica and cultured ‘artificial’ pitcher fluids and tested these fluids' prey retention capabilities. I found that cultures of pitcher leaves' bacterial communities had similar physical properties to raw pitcher fluids. These properties facilitated the retention of insects by both fluids and hint at a previously undescribed class of plant–microbe interaction.

scholarly journals Mechanism for rapid passive-dynamic prey capture in a pitcher plant

2015 ◽  
Vol 112 (43) ◽  
pp. 13384-13389 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulrike Bauer ◽  
Marion Paulin ◽  
Daniel Robert ◽  
Gregory P. Sutton
Keyword(s):  
High Speed ◽  
Prey Capture ◽  
Crystal Surface ◽  
Metabolic Energy ◽  
Pitcher Plant ◽  
Material Stiffness ◽  
Order Of Magnitude ◽  
Wax Crystal ◽  
Rain Drops ◽  
The Impact

Plants use rapid movements to disperse seed, spores, or pollen and catch animal prey. Most rapid-release mechanisms only work once and, if repeatable, regaining the prerelease state is a slow and costly process. We present an encompassing mechanism for a rapid, repeatable, passive-dynamic motion used by a carnivorous pitcher plant to catch prey. Nepenthes gracilis uses the impact of rain drops to catapult insects from the underside of the canopy-like pitcher lid into the fluid-filled trap below. High-speed video and laser vibrometry revealed that the lid acts as a torsional spring system, driven by rain drops. During the initial downstroke, the tip of the lid reached peak velocities similar to fast animal motions and an order of magnitude faster than the snap traps of Venus flytraps and catapulting tentacles of the sundew Drosera glanduligera. In contrast to these active movements, the N. gracilis lid oscillation requires neither mechanical preloading nor metabolic energy, and its repeatability is only limited by the intensity and duration of rainfall. The underside of the lid is coated with friction-reducing wax crystals, making insects more vulnerable to perturbations. We show that the trapping success of N. gracilis relies on the combination of material stiffness adapted for momentum transfer and the antiadhesive properties of the wax crystal surface. The impact-driven oscillation of the N. gracilis lid represents a new kind of rapid plant movement with adaptive function. Our findings establish the existence of a continuum between active and passive trapping mechanisms in carnivorous plants.

Pitcher plant facilitates prey capture in a sympatric congener

Plant Ecology ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 219 (3) ◽  
pp. 299-311 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weng Ngai Lam ◽  
Wendy Yanling Wang ◽  
Loong Fah Cheong ◽  
Joseph Kok Hong Koh ◽  
Maosheng Foo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Prey Capture ◽  
Pitcher Plant

scholarly journals Prey Capture in Anthocyanin-free Sarracenia leucophylla (Sarraceniaceae) Is Associated with Leaf Size, But Not Red Pigmentation

HortScience ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 56 (10) ◽  
pp. 1226-1229
Author(s):  
Phil Sheridan ◽  
Winnie W. Ho ◽  
Yann Rodenas ◽  
Donald G. Ruch
Keyword(s):  
Prey Capture ◽  
Leaf Size ◽  
Dry Weight ◽  
Wild Type ◽  
Anthocyanin Pigmentation ◽  
Pitcher Plant ◽  
Plant Insect Interactions ◽  
Prey Biomass ◽  
True Breeding ◽  
Insect Interactions

Anthocyanin pigmentation is a significant horticultural feature in plants and can be a crucial mediator of plant–insect interactions. In carnivorous plants, the modified leaves that capture prey can be visually striking and are traditionally considered prey attractants. Nevertheless, the question of whether bold color and venation patterns function as lures for insect prey remains ambiguous, and appears to vary across taxa. Furthermore, vegetative pigments can have alternate functions as protectants against thermal and oxidative damage. Our dual-year study compares the wild-type pitcher phenotype with a true-breeding anthocyanin-free mutant of the white-topped pitcher plant (Sarracenia leucophylla Raf.). We bred full-sibling crosses of S. leucophylla carrying either the wild-type anthocyanin gene or the anthocyanin-free variant. In both experimental years, growth points were established in outdoor plots and pitchers were allowed to capture prey before harvest at the end of each growing season. Dry weight of prey biomass was measured from pitchers of both pigment morphs, along with nectary counts, pitcher size, and internal temperature. The presence of anthocyanins in trapping leaves did not affect the biomass of insects captured. Nor did wild-type or anthocyanin-free pitcher morphs differ in size, temperature, or nectary counts. Instead, pitcher height, and, nominally, mouth diameter were better predictors of prey biomass. Despite striking visual differences in pitcher color, wild-type and anthocyanin-free plants did not catch significantly different quantities of prey. Our study provides empirical data that anthocyanin pigmentation in S. leucophylla does not affect the capture of prey biomass, and supports a growing body of literature showing that pigmentation traits serve in multiple contexts.

scholarly journals Diverse microbial communities hosted by the model carnivorous pitcher plant Sarracenia purpurea: analysis of both bacterial and eukaryotic composition across distinct host plant populations

PeerJ ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. e6392
Author(s):  
Jacob J. Grothjan ◽  
Erica B. Young
Keyword(s):  
Food Web ◽  
Prey Capture ◽  
Sarracenia Purpurea ◽  
Aquatic Communities ◽  
Pitcher Plant ◽  
Plant Populations ◽  
Bacterial Composition ◽  
Eukaryotic Diversity ◽  
Taxonomic Groups ◽  
Wetland Habitats

Background The pitcher plant Sarracenia purpurea supplements nutrient acquisition through carnivory, capturing insect prey which are digested by a food web community of eukaryotes and bacteria. While the food web invertebrates are well studied, and some recent studies have characterized bacteria, detailed genetic analysis of eukaryotic diversity is lacking. This study aimed to compare eukaryotic and bacterial composition and diversity of pitcher communities within and between populations of host plants in nearby but distinct wetland habitats, and to characterize microbial functions across populations and in comparison with another freshwater community. Methods Pitcher fluid was sampled from the two wetlands, Cedarburg and Sapa Bogs, community DNA was extracted, and 16S and 18S rRNA amplicons were sequenced and data processed for community-level comparisons. Results and Conclusions Bacterial diversity in the small pitcher volume rivaled that of larger aquatic communities. Between pitcher plant populations, several bacterial families (Kiloniellaceae, Acetobacteraceae, Xanthobacteraceae, Sanguibacteraceae, Oligoflexaceae, Nitrosomonadaceae, Chromatiaceae, Saprospiraceae) were significantly higher in one population. However, although predicted pitcher bacterial functions were distinct from other freshwater communities, especially for some amino acid metabolism, functions were similar across all the pitchers in the two populations. This suggests some functional redundancy among bacterial taxa, and that functions converge to achieve similar food web processes. The sequencing identified a previously under-appreciated high diversity of ciliates, Acari mites, fungi and flagellates in pitcher communities; the most abundant sequences from eukaryotic taxa were Oligohymenophorea ciliates, millipedes and Ichthyosporea flagellates. Two thirds of taxa were identified as food web inhabitants and less than one third as prey organisms. Although eukaryotic composition was not significantly different between populations, there were different species of core taxonomic groups present in different pitchers—these differences may be driven by wetland habitats providing different populations to colonize new pitchers. Eukaryotic composition was more variable than bacterial composition, and there was a poor relationship between bacterial and eukaryotic composition within individual pitchers, suggesting that colonization by eukaryotes may be more stochastic than for bacteria, and bacterial recruitment to pitchers may involve factors other than prey capture and colonization by eukaryotic food web inhabitants.

Dominance determines fish community biomass in a temperate seagrass ecosystem

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron Matthius Eger ◽  
Rebecca J. Best ◽  
Julia Kathleen Baum
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Ecosystem Function ◽  
Fish Community ◽  
Prey Capture ◽  
Fish Communities ◽  
Functional Trait ◽  
Ecosystem Functions ◽  
Community Biomass ◽  
Ecosystem Valuation ◽  
Species Abundances

Biodiversity and ecosystem function are often correlated, but there are multiple hypotheses about the mechanisms underlying this relationship. Ecosystem functions such as primary or secondary production may be maximized by species richness, evenness in species abundances, or the presence or dominance of species with certain traits. Here, we combined surveys of natural fish communities (conducted in July and August, 2016) with morphological trait data to examine relationships between diversity and ecosystem function (quantified as fish community biomass) across 14 subtidal eelgrass meadows in the Northeast Pacific (54° N 130° W). We employed both taxonomic and functional trait measures of diversity to investigate if ecosystem function is driven by species diversity (complementarity hypothesis) or by the presence or dominance of species with particular trait values (selection or dominance hypotheses). After controlling for environmental variation, we found that fish community biomass is maximized when taxonomic richness and functional evenness is low, and in communities dominated by species with particular trait values – those associated with benthic habitats and prey capture. While previous work on fish communities has found that species richness is positively correlated with ecosystem function, our results instead highlight the capacity for regionally prevalent and locally dominant species to drive ecosystem function in moderately diverse communities. We discuss these alternate links between community composition and ecosystem function and consider their divergent implications for ecosystem valuation and conservation prioritization.

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