Plant Carnivory

carnivorous plant taxonomy

538 species, 5 orders - Strongly convergent - Taxonomically isolated: typically found in genera and families consisting entirely of carnivorous plants

Active Flypaper Traps

Enhance sticky prey capture with local movement - Serves to bring more digestive enzymes to bear - Frequently auxin-mediated growth, not just a nastic movement!

Protocarnivores (paracarnivorous)

Have some carnivorous characters, but not all. Plants which capture but don't actively kill, Or plants that can absorb nutrients from dead animals - Sticky glands, pitfall traps - do not kill and directly absorb nutrients - May represent plants "on the path" to true carnivory. Or away from it.

The Lobster Pot

One way leaf trap - lined with inward pointing hairs - Ends in a cavity lined with digestive glands - No true roots, likely preys on small crustaceans ex: Genlisea

the Pitfall Trap

Passive trap: - insect attracted to nectar - Slips into water, can't get out - Downward pointing hairs and slick surfaces keep prey inside - Digested in water

examples of protocarnivores

Pitfall trap species and Flypaper species. - anything short of the strict definition might be considered protocarnivorous - Some species are this due to their inherent loss of need to digest insects that they trap and kill.

insectivorous plants (carnivorous plants)

Plants that derive some or most of their nutrients from trapping and consuming. Commonly insects (other arthropods, protozoans and animals may also be trapped).

Passive Flypaper Traps

Sticky glands on modified leaves -Brightly colored -Enhanced with sweet smells -Also bear digestive glands

Carnivorous plant Prey

The trap utilized by a carnivorous plant species is often associated with the type of prey it consumes. - certain traits attract different prey. - some traps are specialized to only collect certain sized prey. Ex: some plants use weak mucilage because they only need to trap small prey such as gnats.

Steel Traps

Type of plant trap that Venus flytraps have; Leghold traps - Leaves are two lobes which spring closed when triggered (trigger hairs within)

The Bladder Trap

Underwater, triggered trap which sucks in water and prey - Digestion follows - Time to engulf a victim is less than 35 ms.

carnivorous plants are

adapted to nutrient poor environments. - carnivory is supplemental nutrition. ex: nitrogen

myrmecophages

carnivorous plants that specialize in trapping and killing Ants

Charles darwin

major scientist who spent much time studying carnivorous plants, even writing a book about them

carnivorous plant qualifications

must possess morphological adaptations to attract, capture, kill, digest, and absorb prey. It must also gain a fitness advantage thusly. - can also include plants which rely on mutualisms to digest prey.

syntopic carnivorous plants

partition prey. This minimizes competition

animals excluding prey from traps

some animals prevent prey from entering into the plant trap. an example of this would be wasps that build nest inside of a trap, excluding prey

Digestive mutualism

some plants, such as Pitcher Plants, rely on mutualistic interactions with non-prey inhabitants or microbes. These interactions often help the plant to breakdown the nutrients/organic matter. ex: bacteria, protozoa, crustaceans

opportunistic insects

this is a form of competition for prey with animals. certain insects will "poach" prey that the plant captures. ex: spiders will often inhabit traps and intercept the prey before the plant can use it

distribution of carnivory

traditionally distributed in areas with poor soil nutrition. Wetlands and rain forests are an extremely popular area for carnivorous plant species as a whole (they are dominant). - Found in areas with lots of sandstone and high rainfall