scholarly journals Venus Flytrap Seedlings Show Growth-Related Prey Size Specificity

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher R. Hatcher ◽  
Adam G. Hart
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Ecology ◽  
Prey Size ◽  
Conservation Status ◽  
Growth Stages ◽  
Lower Growth ◽  
Venus Flytrap ◽  
Dionaea Muscipula ◽  
Juvenile Stages ◽  
Prey Specificity ◽  
Trap Size

Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) has had a conservation status of vulnerable since the 1970s. Little research has focussed on the ecology and even less has examined its juvenile stages. For the first time, reliance on invertebrate prey for growth was assessed in seedling Venus flytrap by systematic elimination of invertebrates from the growing environment. Prey were experimentally removed from a subset of Venus flytrap seedlings within a laboratory environment. The amount of growth was measured by measuring trap midrib length as a function of overall growth as well as prey spectrum. There was significantly lower growth in prey-eliminated plants than those utilising prey. This finding, although initially unsurprising, is actually contrary to the consensus that seedlings (traps < 5 mm) do not catch prey. Furthermore, flytrap was shown to have prey specificity at its different growth stages; the dominant prey size for seedlings did not trigger mature traps. Seedlings are capturing and utilising prey for nutrients to increase their overall trap size. These novel findings show Venus flytrap to have a much more complex evolutionary ecology than previously thought.

Prey capture in the Venus flytrap: collection or selection?

Botany ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 87 (10) ◽  
pp. 1007-1010 ◽  
Author(s):  
John J. Hutchens, ◽  
James O. Luken
Keyword(s):  
Resource Availability ◽  
Charles Darwin ◽  
Prey Capture ◽  
Large Prey ◽  
Venus Flytrap ◽  
Dionaea Muscipula ◽  
Plant Allocation ◽  
Trap Size ◽  
Prey Length ◽  
Best Fit

Charles Darwin first proposed that the Venus flytrap ( Dionaea muscipula Ellis) functions optimally by capturing and digesting large prey, the small prey escaping through openings at the trap margins. This hypothesis, although intuitively sound in the context of trap mechanics or plant allocation theory, has not been tested adequately with populations of plants growing in the field. Here, with traps collected in the endemic habitat over 9 months, we show that prey capture in the Venus flytrap is opportunistic rather than selective. While there was no effect of trap size on prey capture success, there was a significant but weak positive relationship between trap length and prey length. Prey sizes were well below the theoretical maximum holding capacities of traps and relatively small insects were represented across the range of trap sizes. Our results show that prey capture was not biased toward large invertebrates. Instead, we suggest that nonselective prey capture across the observed range of trap sizes is the best-fit explanation of trap function in the context of relatively limited ability to change allocation in response to sudden increases in resource availability.

scholarly journals Action potentials induce biomagnetic fields in carnivorous Venus flytrap plants

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Fabricant ◽  
Geoffrey Z. Iwata ◽  
Sönke Scherzer ◽  
Lykourgos Bougas ◽  
Katharina Rolfs ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Electrical Activity ◽  
Action Potentials ◽  
Plant Stress ◽  
Optically Pumped ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Noninvasive Diagnostics ◽  
Venus Flytrap ◽  
Dionaea Muscipula ◽  
Cell Arrays ◽  
Electrical Signaling

AbstractUpon stimulation, plants elicit electrical signals that can travel within a cellular network analogous to the animal nervous system. It is well-known that in the human brain, voltage changes in certain regions result from concerted electrical activity which, in the form of action potentials (APs), travels within nerve-cell arrays. Electro- and magnetophysiological techniques like electroencephalography, magnetoencephalography, and magnetic resonance imaging are used to record this activity and to diagnose disorders. Here we demonstrate that APs in a multicellular plant system produce measurable magnetic fields. Using atomic optically pumped magnetometers, biomagnetism associated with electrical activity in the carnivorous Venus flytrap, Dionaea muscipula, was recorded. Action potentials were induced by heat stimulation and detected both electrically and magnetically. Furthermore, the thermal properties of ion channels underlying the AP were studied. Beyond proof of principle, our findings pave the way to understanding the molecular basis of biomagnetism in living plants. In the future, magnetometry may be used to study long-distance electrical signaling in a variety of plant species, and to develop noninvasive diagnostics of plant stress and disease.

Action Potential and Contraction of Dionaea muscipula (Venus Flytrap)

Science ◽  
1961 ◽  
Vol 133 (3456) ◽  
pp. 878-879 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. R. Di Palma ◽  
R. Mohl ◽  
W. Best
Keyword(s):  
Action Potential ◽  
Venus Flytrap ◽  
Dionaea Muscipula

Dynamics of amino acid redistribution in the carnivorous Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula ) after digestion of 13 C/15 N-labelled prey

Plant Biology ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (6) ◽  
pp. 886-895 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Kruse ◽  
P. Gao ◽  
M. Eibelmeier ◽  
S. Alfarraj ◽  
H. Rennenberg
Keyword(s):  
Amino Acid ◽  
Venus Flytrap ◽  
Dionaea Muscipula

scholarly journals How the carnivorous waterwheel plant ( Aldrovanda vesiculosa ) snaps

2018 ◽  
Vol 285 (1878) ◽  
pp. 20180012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna S. Westermeier ◽  
Renate Sachse ◽  
Simon Poppinga ◽  
Philipp Vögele ◽  
Lubomir Adamec ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Computer Simulations ◽  
Compliant Mechanisms ◽  
Venus Flytrap ◽  
Dionaea Muscipula ◽  
Mechanical Modelling ◽  
Biomimetic Approach ◽  
Fast Motion

The fast motion of the snap-traps of the terrestrial Venus flytrap ( Dionaea muscipula ) have been intensively studied, in contrast to the tenfold faster underwater snap-traps of its phylogenetic sister, the waterwheel plant ( Aldrovanda vesiculosa ). Based on biomechanical and functional–morphological analyses and on a reverse biomimetic approach via mechanical modelling and computer simulations, we identify a combination of hydraulic turgor change and the release of prestress stored in the trap as essential for actuation. Our study is the first to identify and analyse in detail the motion principle of Aldrovanda , which not only leads to a deepened understanding of fast plant movements in general, but also contributes to the question of how snap-traps may have evolved and also allows for the development of novel biomimetic compliant mechanisms.

Fur Seals and Sea Lions

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger Kirkwood ◽  
Simon Goldsworthy
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Ecology ◽  
Conservation Status ◽  
Sea Lions ◽  
Australian Sea Lion ◽  
Fur Seals ◽  
Fur Seal ◽  
History Of ◽  
Near Shore ◽  
New Zealand Fur Seal ◽  
Near Extinction

Fur seals and sea lions are charismatic, large carnivores that engage us with both their skill and playful antics. Although all species in Australian waters were harvested to near extinction 200 years ago, fur seals are recovering and are now common in near-shore waters across southern Australia. Sea lions, however, are endangered. Their populations appear not to have recovered like fur seals and are declining at some locations. Fur seals and sea lions are important top level predators and play an important role in Australia’s temperate marine ecosystems. Key threats they currently face relate to human activities, particularly interactions with fisheries. This book outlines the comparative evolutionary ecology, biology, life-history, behaviour, conservation status, threats, history of human interactions and latest research on the three species of otariids that live in the waters of southern Australia: the Australian fur seal, New Zealand fur seal and Australian sea lion. It also includes brief descriptions of Antarctic and Subantarctic seals that occupy the Antarctic pack-ice and remote Australian territories of Macquarie Island and Heard Island.

On the mechanism of trap closure of Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula Ellis)

Planta ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 179 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dieter Hodick ◽  
Andreas Sievers
Keyword(s):  
Venus Flytrap ◽  
Dionaea Muscipula

scholarly journals Abundance of Cysteine Endopeptidase Dionain in Digestive Fluid of Venus Flytrap (Dionaea muscipula Ellis) Is Regulated by Different Stimuli from Prey through Jasmonates

PLoS ONE ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. e104424 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michaela Libiaková ◽  
Kristýna Floková ◽  
Ondřej Novák ◽  
L'udmila Slováková ◽  
Andrej Pavlovič
Keyword(s):  
Cysteine Endopeptidase ◽  
Venus Flytrap ◽  
Dionaea Muscipula ◽  
Digestive Fluid
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